IIT Palakkad to drive Digital Transformation in Construction with New National Initiatives

IIT Palakkad has strengthened its role in advancing digital construction in the country through the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding with the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) and the Central Public Works Department (CPWD). 

The MoU establishes IIT Palakkad as the National Centre of Excellence (CoE) for training in Building Information Modelling (BIM) and Digital Transformation. Under the five-year collaboration, the institute will serve as the nodal centre for curriculum development, certification and research, while MoHUA/CPWD will facilitate participation and implementation. The initiative envisages a hybrid hub-and-spoke training model to upskill public sector Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) professionals through a standardised national programme. As part of the initiative, IIT Palakkad, in collaboration with CPWD, has already launched an online hybrid technical course on Building Information Modelling (BIM) on the NULP-iGOT platform.

The MoU was exchanged in the presence of Prof. A. Seshadri Sekhar, Director, IIT Palakkad; Dr. V. Senthilkumar, Associate Professor, Civil Engineering and Project Head; Dr. T.K. Sudheesh, Head, Department of Civil Engineering; Dr. Kanmani Subbu, Chairperson, CCE; Dr. Rakesh J. Pillai, Chairman, EWD; Dr. B.V. Ramesh, Registrar; Er. Ajay Keshav, Additional Director General (Kochi), CPWD; Er. C.S. Abineesh, Superintending Engineer, CPWD; Er. Dinesh Kumar Ujjainia, Chief Engineer, Palakkad Project Zone, CPWD, and other officials from both organisations.

On the same day, IIT Palakkad inaugurated the Centre for Digital Construction Management (CDCM) Lab at its B03 facility. Established through a strategic partnership with Autodesk Inc. and fully sponsored by the company, the laboratory aims to bridge the gap between academia and industry by providing state-of-the-art infrastructure for education, research, skill development and collaborative projects in the Architecture, Engineering and Construction sector.

Prof. A. Seshadri Sekhar, Director, IIT Palakkad, inaugurated the facility along with Mr. Nikhil Bagalkotkar, Director of Technical Sales, Autodesk India. Dr. V. Senthilkumar, Dean (Infrastructure) and Associate Professor, Civil Engineering, welcomed the gathering. The programme also featured addresses by Mr. Nikhil Bagalkotkar, Mr. Akhilesh Sahi, India Education Lead, Autodesk, and Dr. T.K. Sudheesh, who highlighted the growing role of digital technologies and academia-industry collaboration in transforming the built environment.