Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the Discovery Campus of Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras), located at Thaiyur near Chennai, to accommodate the growing research infrastructure requirements of students and faculty.?

Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami was also present during the event.

The virtual inauguration was held on Sunday in the presence of the Governor of Tamil Nadu Shri Banwarilal Purohit, the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu Shri Edappadi K. Palaniswami and a host of other dignitaries.

The campus shall host state-of-the-art standalone research centres with large dedicated facilities and will have its own support infrastructure such as hostels for the research scholars and fellows, common instrumentation laboratories, and conference facilities, among other amenities. The satellite campus has been primarily planned as a research campus.?

Two research centres have already been planned for the Discovery Campus which are supposed to be functional by the end of the year 2021.?These include the National Technology Centre for Ports, Waterways and Coasts, which is funded by the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways, Government of India. It will house the country’s first large ‘Shallow Water Basin’ facility for coastal and estuarine research and industrial applications.?

The second research centre to come up in the Discovery Campus is the ‘Solid Propellant Combustion Modelling Facility’ of the Centre of Propulsion Technology, which is funded by Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO). This Modelling Facility will be the first facility to be established under the Centre of Propulsion Technology at IIT Madras.

?The upcoming and developing research centres in Discovery Campus shall make the institution a hub?for the most exciting advanced research being carried out anywhere, and a beehive of discovery. The campus will see a steady stream of international scientists and students.