The institute has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to establish Maker Bhavan at the institute. The gift agreement was signed with Dr Hemant Kanakia, co-founder and CEO at Gemplex Internet Inc, USA and an alumnus of IIT Bombay, on February 23 during the Overseas Indian Higher Education Conclave at IITGN. Dr Kanakia has contributed a substantial endowment to support the creation of the Maker Bhavan.
With the creation of the Maker Bhavan, IITGN has embarked on leading the learning-by-doing approach in engineering education in India, under which people with shared interests will be able to work on projects while sharing ideas and knowledge. It is envisioned as a multidimensional makerspace on campus to foster experiential learning, design thinking, creativity and innovation among students across all disciplines.
Dr Hemant Kanakia said, “In order to become leaders, students should learn to complement engineering knowledge acquired at IITs with a host of soft skills such as effective communication, group collaboration skills, critical thinking and aptitude for innovation. To this end, Maker Bhavan facilitates interdisciplinary student and faculty interactions and integrates learning by doing into curriculum courses. The goal is to turn students into doers, leaders and innovators in whichever field they choose to pursue after graduation.”
Maker Bhavan will have teamwork areas, a fabrication area, machine shop, creative studio, electronics labs, materials inventory and storage space with the aim of providing the necessary tools, resources, facilities, people, and equipment for both curricular and extracurricular activities. Students and IITGN’s extended community, including faculty, staff, alumni, industry partners, and in the long-term, educational practitioners from other institutions around the country will be able to benefit from the space.
Dr. Hemant Kanakia is the Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer at Gemplex Internet, Inc., a business-networking services provider offering secure connectivity solution. Dr. Kanakia has served as a General Partner at Columbia Capital LLC, focused on technology investments. Prior to starting Gemplex, he was Chairman, CEO, and founder of Torrent Networking that was eventually purchased by Ericsson. He served as the President of Washington D.C chapter of The Indus Entrepreneurs and served as its Trustee. He also served or serves on the boards of the International Red Cross Washington DC, the Board of Advisors for University of Maryland School of Engineering, and the Board of Visitors, Virginia Tech, and the ICEO-TiE DC Chapter. Dr. Kanakia holds a B.Tech from IIT Bombay, an M.S from Case Western Reserve University, and a PhD in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University.
Maker Bhavan aims to redefine the traditional divisions between classrooms and lab spaces to ensure that active learning, creativity and research innovation become an integral part of teaching and learning at IITGN. It will also empower students through highly beneficial interdisciplinary interactions, a core value of IITGN.
Prof Sudhir K Jain
