Innovation

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SASTRA houses two technology business incubators (TBI) with the support from Department of Science & Technology (DST) and Department of Biotechnology (DBT). The Foundation for Innovation and Research at SASTRA TBI (FIRST), a Section 8 company established in 2017, is jointly supported by DST and SASTRA to nurture innovations in 3D printing, Internet of Things, Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality. Established at a cost of Rs 1382.23 lakh with a dedicated space of 20,000 sq.ft., FIRST houses a Design facility, Innovation & Training Centre, Rapid Prototyping Centre, incubation & office space, Board room, etc. It has 32 printers capable of 3D-printing different structures using polymers, resins, ceramics, biologicals and metals with high precision. The IoT facility with a large collection of sensors, modules, kits and signal generators, web nodes, transceivers provide the required infrastructure for development of IoT solutions in the realm of Agriculture, Smart Energy, Smart Grid, Security, Healthcare, etc. A dedicated cloud computing storage facility is available to collect data from edge devices and perform data analytics. Labs have been set-up to enable incubatees working in the areas of VR and AR to create contents for training, tourism, etc. So far, 52 incubatees have been mentored and two have graduated as successful start-ups. This facility has also been used to promote innovation culture by organizing hands-on Workshops for school students and other students.

The Association of Bio-Inspired Leaders and Entrepreneurs at SASTRA-TBI (ABLEST) established in 2020 at a cost of Rs 700 lakh with the support from BIRAC, DBT fosters development of diagnostics and therapeutics. This 5,500 sq.ft. entity has a BSL-3 facility, Next Generation Sequencing, Molecular Biology & Biochemistry facilities, wet lab space, etc., for incubatees to establish proof-of-concept solutions for healthcare. Currently, 12 incubatees are being supported at ABLEST. Both incubators are actively contributing towards combating the pandemic by designing and developing robots for COVID care in isolation wards, drones for disinfection, mobile UV-C sterilizers, oxygen concentrators, 3D printed ventilator splits, face masks & shields, etc.