TrEST Research Park, the State’s first technology research park, has set a model in industry-academia linkage.
It fosters collaborative research in microprocessor design, electric vehicle research, and other emerging technologies.
The State-funded company, attached to the College of Engineering, Thiruvananthapuram, (CET), has been enabling research collaboration between the faculty and the students of the college and the seven start-ups that have been set up in the park.
TrEST (Trivandrum Engineering Science and Technology) Research Park, modelled on the lines of the IIT-Madras Research Park, is viewed as crucial to the State’s dreams of attaining a knowledge economy.
According to Koshy P. Vaidyan, the chief executive officer of the park, focus has been on the design of open-source RISC-V processors and processors with Artificial Intelligence capability at the centre. Electric vehicles, motors and a battery management system are also among the research areas.
The TrEST model involved the industry, approaching the research centre for technological solutions in various fields, and the CET faculty and students who generate suggestions and evolving solutions that will enable the industry in product development. The company is steered by a Board of Governors chaired by Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre Director S. Somanath and comprises the Principal Secretary of Higher Education and the Director of Technical Education, among others.
“Our mode of functioning enabled students and faculty to receive exposure to emerging industry trends, boost their prospects in obtaining patents, and enhance the employability of students that is often cited the lacunae in our technical education,” Dr. Vaidyan said.
The companies operating at the park currently engaged electronics, electrical, mechanical and computer science engineering BTech students from the fifth to eighth semesters, M.Tech students, and a few research scholars. Recently, the defence public-sector unit Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) identified the park as its R&D consultant in the fields of energy and renewable energy.
While the park functioned from a rented building, efforts are on to scale up its operations by establishing a permanent campus adjacent to the CET. “Even though the park is being set up near the college, the vision is to eventually bring in all engineering and technology academic and research institutions in Kerala into its fold. From the State’s perspective, TrEST Park will help in generating high quality employment and boost economic development,” Dr. Vaidyan said.