Imperial College London and the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay announce strategic partnership
Agreement lays the groundwork to greater collaboration and opens the door to cooperation in areas such as education, innovation and research
Dignitaries and representatives from Imperial College London and the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay announce strategic partnership
Imperial College London and the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, India (IIT Bombay) have announced a strategic partnership across research, innovation and education.
The agreement begins a new phase of closer collaboration between the two institutions and follows the signing last year of a Free Trade Agreement and announcement of the new ‘India-UK Vision 2035’, an ambitious and future-focused agreement which will see the two nations deepen collaboration in areas such as cutting-edge technology and research, building on the Technology Security Initiative, focused on future telecoms, and AI and critical minerals.
IIT Bombay is one of Imperial’s top collaborating institutions in India and the new partnership builds on years of successful joint research projects between Indian and British academics, as well as Imperial’s longstanding links with India that already include significant peer-to-peer collaborations.
The partnership will enable several key initiatives between the universities including joint research and innovation programmes, academic workshops and student entrepreneurship programmes.
There will also be opportunities for students and researchers to work closely together and undertake placements and exchanges in London and Mumbai, working on joint projects and sharing knowledge and data.
The Imperial-IIT Bombay agreement was celebrated at an event in Mumbai attended by IIT Bombay’s Director, Professor Shireesh B. Kedare, and Professor Anthony Bull. Imperial’s Director of the School of Convergence Science.
High-impact science and technology programmes
Imperial is ranked second in the world and first in the UK and Europe in the QS World University Rankings 2027. The new partnership will leverage the expanding activity through Imperial Global India, which drives high-impact science and technology programmes with partners in India.
Professor Peter Haynes, Provost and Deputy President of Imperial College London, said: “IIT Bombay builds on Imperial’s longstanding links with India and strengthens a relationship that already includes significant peer-to-peer collaborations.
"It reflects Imperial’s strong commitment to collaboration with leading institutions around the world, bringing together complementary expertise to address shared challenges.
"By working side by side with colleagues at IIT Bombay, we will accelerate research and innovation with the potential to make a real difference to people’s lives in India, the UK and beyond. In doing so, we are also proud to play our part in strengthening the deep and growing partnership between the UK and India in science and technology.”
Professor Shireesh B. Kedare, Director of IIT Bombay, said: “This strategic partnership with Imperial College London marks an important step in strengthening the longstanding ties between IIT Bombay and Imperial.
"By bringing together our complementary strengths in research, innovation and education, we aim to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time.
“We look forward to creating meaningful opportunities for our students, researchers and innovators to work together and translate knowledge and research into solutions with global impact.”
