Hyderabad: IIT Hyderabad (IIT-H) on Thursday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) to establish a Transportation Research and Innovation hub, a Centre of Excellence at IIT-Hyderabad to work on contemporary and cutting-edge technologies for National Highways in India.
Kiran Kuchi, Dean (R&D), IITH, while signing the MoU said, "This is one of the pioneering initiatives of NHAI to support state-of-the-art research in transportation through a Centre of Excellence."
Cheering the initiative with IITH, Ajay Sabharwal, GM (Tech), NHAI-New Delhi, and Krishna Prasad, DGM & RO, NHAI-Hyderabad, said, “We are confident in demonstrating new technologies in pavements and bridge infrastructure in partnership with IITH."
Expressing delight on occasion, IITH Director, BS Murty said, "The new HUB is possibly the first of its kind in an IIT system, will complement the recently inaugurated test bed for the 'Technology Innovation Hub for Autonomous Navigation and Data Acquisition Systems (TiHAN)' at the Institute in demonstrating innovative technologies. In addition, it is going to bring a number of innovative technologies in the field of transportation."
Briefing about the hub, Professor of Civil Engineering and Chair of TRI HUB, Sireesh Saride said, "We are resolute in achieving the project deliverables in time and demonstrating new technologies and methodologies to build smart and sustainable National Highways. The new methodologies, including geosynthetics, reclaimed materials, glass fiber reinforced polymer (GFRP), rebars for bridges and pavements, and retrofitting strategies for aging bridges, among other solutions, are going to provide long-lasting and sustainable highway infrastructure for smart Indian Highways."
As part of this HUB, Suriya Prakash S, Umashankar B, Mahendra Kumar Madhavan, Munwar Basha, and Anil Agarwal, along with Sireesh S, will work on 10 different innovative projects to deliver the objectives.