About the INUP - i2i Program

Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology – MeitY, with the long-term vision of improving skilled manpower in the areas of micro and nanoelectronics had established the Indian Nanoelectronics Users’ Programme (INUP) about a decade back.

The initiative enabled the researchers to travel from the country's remotest locations and implement their ideas at the state- of-art nanofabrication and characterization facilities available at Centres of Excellence established at the Indian Institute of Science Bangalore and Indian Institute of Technology Bombay.

Over the years, the brand INUP has caught the imaginations of the scholars from numerous technical colleges and universities who could not afford to have such facilities to perform research. The user base grew from the first (2008-2014) to the second 2014-2019) phases of implementation. Thousands of researchers have received hands-on training at various levels in such state-of-art facilities in the multi- disciplinary areas of micro/nanoelectronics. Hundreds of them could implement their research ideas and produce scientific and technological outputs. The initiative resulted in unprecedented benefits to the budding scholars in developing cutting-edge research prototypes, which was found to be way beyond the traditional soft-teaching pathways through textbook knowledge. The initiative also helped the participants write and submit research proposals, budget the same, implement ideas at the ground level, schedule project work, submit project reports, prepare scientific manuscripts, and develop the devices.

This has laid the necessary foundation for the next phase of the program: Indian Nanoelectronics Users’ Programme - Idea to Innovation - INUP-i2i, that would run from 2021 – 2024. The primary objectives of the proposed initiative are

  • Expand the program to six state-of-art Centre of Excellences in the areas of nanoscience and nanotechnologies from Indian Institute of Science Bangalore, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, and Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati.
  • Conduct year-round training programs at various levels for academia, startups and industry.
  • Develop training modules to teach the fundamentals in the area of nanoelectronics and provide practical information on the state-of-the-art fabrication and characterization tools.
  • Enable hands-on training on the cutting-edge areas of micro/nanoelectronics, micro/nanofabrication and characterization.Encourage the development of prototypes and technology development targeting societal benefits.
  • Encourage the development of prototypes and technology development targeting societal benefits.
  • Mentor the budding entrepreneurs by offering access to technological know-how in the field of micro/nanoelectronics
  • Develop a highly skilled workforce to catalyze the GOI initiatives such as Make in India, Start-Up India, Skill India and Atmanirbar Bharat.

Participating Institutes

IIT Guwahati

IIT Guwahati

IIT Bombay

IIT Bombay

IISc Bangalore

IISc Bangalore

IIT Madras

IIT Madras

IIT Delhi

IIT Delhi

IIT Kharagpur

IIT Kharagpur