ANRF CEO highlights goal to position India as innovation hub

Shivkumar Kalyanaraman, CEO of Anusandhan National Research Foundation (ANRF), delivered IIT-Delhi’s first institute lecture of the 2025-26 academic calendar on its campus on Monday.

His talk, titled “ANRF vision — catalysing India’s rise as a research and innovation powerhouse”, laid out ANRF’s mission to create a world-class research environment and position India as a global hub for innovation.

During the lecture, Kalyanaraman delved into ANRF’s efforts towards ensuring “ease of doing science”, highlighting initiatives to improve procurement models and make research more PI-friendly.

He urged IIT-Delhi researchers to contribute innovative ideas to mission-mode programmes, enabling them to “work more efficiently towards doing big things for the country and big things for the world, and not get caught up in the administrative side of things”.

Addressing the gathering, IIT-Delhi Director Rangan Banerjee said: “We are delighted to be able to hear from (Kalyanaraman), and we look forward for all of us…to engage meaningfully with ANRF so that we can, together, make a difference through our research.”

As part of his visit, the CEO toured the Central Research Facility (CRF) on campus, and participated with senior institute leaders in a brainstorming session on a roadmap for contributing to nation-building.