India's biggest brain bank: Bengaluru’s IIT Alumni Centre connects 23 IITs with industry to drive innovation

The centre acts as a facilitator, helping companies bring their technical challenges to the IIT ecosystem and connecting them with institutions that may be able to develop solutions.

Companies bring their pressing technical problems to IITACB, which circulates them across the 23 IITs to identify suitable researchers and teams. The centre does not handle technical execution or commercial agreements; it broadens access to expertise and facilitates connections.

The approach has already supported projects involving areas such as automobile materials, facial-recognition technology, energy and heat transfer. In one instance, the centre connected airport operator GMR Group with researchers at IIT Guwahati to address a flooding-related problem.

Another initiative is Tathyakosh, a public-data discovery platform launched by ACSEL Technology Forum in collaboration with IITACB. Launched in August 2026, the platform brings together more than 1.5 million datasets from 458 sources, making information easier to discover through a single searchable interface.

The platform is intended to help researchers, startups, developers and policymakers access public data that is otherwise spread across multiple repositories.

IITACB is also supporting emerging businesses through AI startup mentoring and incubation programmes backed by the Karnataka Government.

One beneficiary, Bengaluru-based Kazunov 1AI, developed an artificial intelligence system to automate health-risk assessments for insurance companies. After participating in a four-month accelerator programme, the startup was selected for ₹1 crore in funding, alongside mentorship and business guidance.

The initiative illustrates how the centre aims to help startups progress from early-stage ideas to commercially viable products.

By bringing researchers, entrepreneurs, investors, industry and government closer together, IITACB is seeking to make the collective expertise of the IIT network more accessible. Its broader ambition is to turn institutional collaboration into research projects, new businesses and practical solutions to industry challenges.