IIT-Madras creating top-notch ocean engineering and maritime technology facility.

TLDR:

• IIT Madras is building a Centre of Excellence (CoE) for ocean engineering and maritime technology to drive indigenous development, save costs, and become a global hub.
• The CoE has already achieved significant financial savings by replacing foreign expertise with indigenous technology in major maritime projects in India.

The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT Madras) has been silently working on establishing a massive Centre of Excellence (CoE) that aims to drive the indigenous development of maritime technology and expertise. This CoE, known as Maritime Experiments To Maritime Experience (ME2ME), is led by V. Sriram and a team of faculty members from the Department of Ocean Engineering at IIT Madras. They are focused on creating technologies that will impact offshore and coastal engineering, green shipping, future ports, and offshore renewable areas. The CoE, funded by the Indian government’s Institute of Eminence initiative, aims to foster world-class research and become a global hub in the maritime sector. The center has already made significant advancements, such as developing Next Generation smartphone-based ‘e-Navigation’ for Inland Water Transport and creating proprietary wavemakers for testing marine structures, saving the country millions of rupees in comparison to imported technologies. The CoE also plans to expand its focus areas to include prototype testing for coastal and port engineering, development of marine autonomous vehicles, and application of AI and ML in marine fields. This initiative by IIT Madras is crucial for building a healthy blue economy for the nation.