Mumbai: As part of its initiative to encourage innovation in research, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is in talks with the Indian Institute of Technology, Chennai for a potential collaboration in the future, visiting MIT president Susan Hockfield said here today.

The global initiative launched by the US university, called the International Innovation Initiative (I-cubed), is expected to identify and encourage research in other institutes with which MIT has partnerships.

Hockfield said MIT was currently in talks with IIT-Chennai and could enter into talks with other IITs and other universities in the future as part of this initiative. "This will not be a department focused initiative but one that will encourage the growth of new and innovative ideas," Hockfield told reporters after an interaction session organised by the CII.

The I-cubed model is to be based on the model of the Deshpande Center for Technological Innovation which is on the MIT campus and will identify and select collaborative research projects across disciplines.

Hockfield ruled out the possibility of MIT, famed for its research in science and technology, would be setting up any campuses in any country in the near future and said they would prefer partnerships with universities across the world. She cited the success of inter-disciplinary research carried out at MIT and said a similar model could be used by Indian universities in order to encourage research leading to innovation.

Source : PTI