Mangaluru: Engineers must translate research, papers and patents into tangible products, systems and solutions, and develop indigenous technologies to address the country’s needs, said JD Patil, president, Indian National Academy of Engineering (INAE).Addressing graduates at the 24th annual convocation of the National Institute of Technology Karnataka (NITK) Surathkal, on Saturday, Patil said India had risen from the world’s 12th-largest economy to the fourth-largest, and its next goal should be to become number one.Graduates had a key role in this journey and must take ownership of their work and develop globally competitive products and technologies, he said. The convocation was held in two sessions, with postgraduate and doctoral students receiving their degrees in the forenoon and undergraduate students in the afternoon.He said engineering could generate thousands of jobs. During the afternoon undergraduate session, Patil drew on his nearly five decades at Larsen and Toubro (L&T) to highlight how engineers could build organisations and contribute to nation-building. He encouraged graduates to establish organisations or join companies committed to the country’s development.MM Murugappan, chairperson of the NITK board of governors, said the institute had built an ecosystem beyond classroom learning through the Department of Design and Entrepreneurship, Idea Factory and Science and Technology Entrepreneurs Park (STEP). STEP had incubated more than 150 companies. He also highlighted NITK’s life-skills programme and its emphasis on human values such as dignity, independence and discipline.Presenting the annual report, NITK director Prof B Ravi said sponsored research funding exceeded Rs 20 crore, while consultancy and testing services crossed Rs 10 crore. The institute published more than 1,300 technical papers, filed 56 patents, secured 35 grants and signed 24 national and international MoUs for academic and research collaborations.More than 460 organisations had offered over 400 internships and 800 jobs to undergraduate students, Ravi said. NITK’s STEP accounted for about 40% of startups incubated across the country’s 31 NITs.He said the institute was expanding its innovation ecosystem through the Idea Factory, the proposed CVISTA facility for VLSI hardware prototyping and a Research Park for mature startups, PSUs, corporates, NGOs and global capability centres.NITK received Rs 244 crore in revenue and capital grants from the ministry of education in 2025-26 and generated around Rs 110 crore internally through fees, projects, donations and testing services, he said.A total 1,986 students received degrees: 967 BTech, 680 MTech, 12 MTech (research), 66 MCA, 74 MBA, 68 MSc and 119 PhDs. A total 46 students received institute and sponsored gold medals, including 11 undergraduate and 35 postgraduate students. For academic excellence, 11 BTech and 35 postgraduate students, 46 in all, received institute gold medals and medals sponsored by external agencies for securing the highest CGPA in their programmes.
