Lockheed Martin to invest $300,000 in IIT Delhi

New Delhi, Aug 6 (IANS) Recognising the excellence of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Delhi, combat aircraft manufacturing giant Lockheed Martin has chosen it for a $300,000 project of collaborative research in bio- and nano-technology.
"We have already signed an agreement with the IIT Delhi. We are investing $300,000 for a collaborative project over a period of one year," Ray O. Johnson, senior vice president and chief technology officer of Lockheed Martin, said here Wednesday.
"This is the first such collaboration with any institute beyond the US and Europe. The IIT is an institute of recognised excellence across the globe in this field of bio- and nano-technology and after the successful completion of the project, we may have some follow up projects," Johnson told IANS.
He said Lockheed had been engaged in discussions with the IIT Delhi for nearly a year to "identify mutual areas of interest in technology collaboration and research".
With the broad spectrum of bio- and nano-technology, research will be carried out in the fields like nano-technology-enabled biological sensors, biodegradable nonmaterial for medical treatment and bio-filters for pollution detection.
"The partnership is an exciting prospect for advancing technology and establishing a long-term relationship with Lockheed Martin. We are surprised but happy about the collaboration," IIT Delhi director Surendra Prasad said in a select press meet.
When asked about the choice of of the IIT Delhi for the collaboration, Prasad said: "we are doing quite well in the field and they know the IIT Delhi is the best in India."
Eight professors from four departments of the institute and up to five experts from Lockheed will work together here to achieve success in the project and work out future collaboration.
Asked who will have the patent for the new products, molecules, Prasad said: "The intellectual property rights issues are yet to be finalised but no one can stop the IIT Delhi from publishing the research results."
Johnson said the objectives of the research partnership include "developing domain expertise in the nano-biological technologies for application to Lockheed Martin products, services, and adjacent market pursuits".
"It will also strive to achieve capabilities in modelling and simulation, virtual experimentation and conceptual designing of nano-biological systems," he added.
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