The IIT Kanpur signed an MoU with the Rail India Technical and Economic Service (RITES) Limited, a government-owned multi-disciplinary engineering and consultancy enterprise which provides customized solutions in the transport and infrastructural sector of the country.

Notably, the alliance between both parties has been made to mutually work towards exploring new opportunities in the areas of sustainability and promoting decarbonization breakthroughs in various sectors.

The MoU between both the parties pertains to exploring new opportunities in the areas of sustainability including environmental, social, and governance (ESG) framework and decarbonization in sectors such as steel, cement, and power among others.

This further includes R&D-related works on air quality sensors to align RITES with the vision of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) and Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoHUA) to address air pollution, greenhouse gas emissions and solid waste management.

The MoU was signed by Prof. A.R. Harish, Dean of R&D, IIT Kanpur and Mr. Manobendra Ghoshal, Chief Strategy Officer, RITES Ltd. in the presence of other noteworthy dignitaries from both parties.

Furthermore, a special team will work on deploying sensor packages at 3-4 locations and fully instrumented mobile lab at each site for 10 days in 2 seasons, as a joint initiative. Incidentally, the collected data will be shared with Municipal Corporations, Central & State Government authorities and stakeholders for backing suitable measures to control air pollution in the non-attainment cities (NACs), including Kanpur, Lucknow, and Bengaluru.

With this, both parties will also work towards creating student exchange platforms to stimulate mutual growth.