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Op-Ed MAY 08, 2026 | The Indian Eye 16

Turning Research into

Real-World Solutions

The IIT Kanpur-NYU Tandon School of Engineering partnership shows

how joint research in emerging technologies is moving from lab to deployment

while strengthening U.S.-India collaboration.

BY ZAHOOR HUSSAIN BHAT

SPAN Magazine, U.S. Embassy New
Delhi
s universities deepen cooper-
ation in advanced technolo-
Agies, academic partnerships
are increasingly focusing not only on
shared research output but also on
how effectively they translate ideas
into deployable solutions.
The collaboration between
the Indian Institute of Technology
Kanpur (IITK) and New York Uni-
versity (NYU) Tandon School of En-
gineering reflects this shift, bringing
together joint research across cy-
bersecurity, biotechnology, artificial
intelligence, robotics, and wireless
communications.
“We launched seven joint re-
search projects within the first year
of the formal agreement, which is
exceptionally fast for this kind of
partnership,” says Juan de Pab-
lo, Executive Dean of the NYU Tan-
don School of Engineering and Ex-
ecutive Vice President for Global
Science and Technology. “The NYU The CBE Lab at NYU Tandon School of Engineering
Tandon-IITK Advanced Research
Centre at IITK gives the collabo-
ration a permanent home. And our ture, and research ecosystems.
doctoral dual-degree program is “Partnerships like this work be-
training researchers with genuine in- cause both institutions bring some-
stitutional ties on both sides.” thing unique to the table,” says Pro-
The collaboration began in 2016 fessor Manindra Agrawal, director
when the NYU Tandon Cyber Se- of IIT Kanpur. “In India, we have
curity Awareness Week expanded access to a vast pool of engineering
to India, with IIT Kanpur hosting talent, and recent developments in
the competition. This initial en- fields such as biotechnology, health
gagement laid the foundation for care, and space technology have
a broader, multidomain research demonstrated that India leads in the
partnership, with a memorandum development of low-cost solutions
of understanding to engage in joint to global problems.” U.S. universi-
research on critical areas signed in ties, on the other hand, have good
2023. research infrastructure and access to
The sustained collaboration is significant research funding. “This
built on complementary institutional Dr. Manindra Agrawal Juan de Pablo complementarity in strengths is what
strengths across talent, infrastruc- Continued on next page... >>

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