Outside Professional Engagement

Outside professional activities add value to both faculty members and the Institute. It not only helps create a brand and increase outreach, but also contributes towards the overall growth and enrichment of research ecosystem in the institute. The institute encourages regular faculty members to engage in such activities.

It is important to emphasize that engagement in outside professional activities by a faculty member does not imply or result in a reduction in the faculty member’s workload or commitment towards regular teaching, research etc. activities of the Institute.

There are multiple ways to engage in outside professional activities.

Outside Professional Engagement

FITT is a regional hub for tech-based innovation and entrepreneurship. It aims to foster, promote and sustain commercialization of science and technology. It offers programs to enrich the entrepreneurial eco-system and technology commercialization efforts at the Institute where faculty members can

i. Be involved as a mentor in a company

ii. Start a company of their own

iii. Get information on funding programs related to faculty entrepreneurship.

Every start-up incubated at TBI requires a mentor from the faculty of IIT Delhi.

Time commitment- The maximum time any faculty member may commit to start-up and consultancy projects while on duty at IIT Delhi is one day per week. A faculty member may spend more than one day per week on such activities only when they are on leave from the institute.

Role- A faculty-mentor in a start-up may only be in non-executive roles. The underlying principle being that the faculty member, as an employee of IIT, cannot be held financially or contractually liable for actions of the company. They may not hold positions of C-level Executives in the company. However, a faculty member can hold such positions when on sabbatical leave or on lien. Financial implications- Faculty mentors can hold shares in the company. The percentage of shares will be mutually decided by the start-up and the faculty member.

Conflict of interest

Throughout their association with a start-up, a faculty member must ensure compliance with the institute's conflict of interest policy. ln particular, the faculty member is required to take appropriate approvals and must remain transparent about all their engagements as well as that of their relatives, students, and supervisees in such engagements. Transparency must also exist in the lntellectual Property created as a part of their academic activities and by the start-up.

Once a faculty member agrees to be a mentor, they need to fill the form present at the website of FITT-IITD and submit it along with the mutually decided terms and conditions of the start-up, to MD, FITT with a copy to Dean, Faculty.

Faculty Innovation and Research-driven Entrepreneurship (FIRE) Program

The FIRE program is specifically designed for the IITD faculty who wish to venture into entrepreneurship. It envisions commercialization of technologies and concepts backed by strong scientific evidence that may lead to a commercially viable solution.

Faculty-led enterprises are eligible to receive a funding grant of upto ₹50 Lakh by IRD, IIT Delhi.

Time commitment of faculty:

Faculty members may be allowed to undertake such activities on part-time or full-time basis.

· Full-time involvement - A faculty member on approval to undertake such activities on a full-time basis, must proceed on Sabbatical Leave / Leave of the kind due during the first year of the entrepreneurship. If necessary, they can request to proceed on lien for two additional years.

· Part-time involvement- If a faculty member wishes to be involved on a part-time basis in the FIRE activity, the existing norms of one day per week of such activities will apply.

Revenue Sharing/Equity- Out of the gross annual turnover of the Start-up company, up to 3% of sales turnover shall be payable to the institute during its incubation period. Equity holding by FITT is as per TBIU Rules (5% currently).

Using Institute Resources- The start-up must declare the institute facilities it has requested and been permitted to use, and pay charges as per notified tariffs for those facilities. (lf the facility does not have an existing tariff structure, an approved tariff chart through the concerned unit should be part of the proposal.)

IPR-IPR Policy of the institute will be applicable. View the IITD IPR Policy IP ownership clauses of the funding agencies to be considered

Other Schemes

There are various schemes of government/corporate organizations that aim to promote technology-based entrepreneurship that have partnered with FITT-IIT Delhi. FITT serves as a 'Host Institution’ for these schemes.

As the Host Institution, FITT-IIT Delhi is responsible for providing incubation support, such as screening of applications for incubation, mentoring of start-ups, networking, monitoring the progress of milestones, disbursal of funds from parent/sponsoring organizations, etc. At FITT-IIT Delhi, this mentorship is provided by the faculty of IIT Delhi.

Regular rules apply for the involvement of faculty by default. However, any additional terms of the sponsoring organization must also to be considered.

Sponsored Research Projects

Sponsored research is one of the primary academic activities of a faculty member of IIT Delhi. It helps individual faculty member acquire funds that can be utilized for research infrastructure, manpower, consumables and contributes towards the overall growth of the institute. Faculty members can be involved in sponsored research projects through IRD

The responsibility for the operation of the project lies with the PI. This operation includes hiring staff and procuring equipment sanctioned by the project, sending regular financial and technical reports to the funding agency as per their requirement, seeking pre-approval for certain expense if needed, etc. In doing so, the rules of the funding agency as well as IIT Delhi rules must be followed. IRD provides administrative and accounting support. This support is available through IRIS.

See more about Proposal submission, Operation of project upon acceptance of the proposal by the funding agency in IRD manual (Page 11 onwards)

Consultancy Projects

Faculty members at IITD can be involved in Industrial consultancy that may include giving technical/scientific advice or time-bound and focused research inputs to industries, government bodies and public sector undertakings.

Read more on Consultancy projects in IRD manual (Page 18 onwards)

External manpower can be hired for Sponsored Research Projects and Consultancy Jobs. Read about this more in IRD manual (Page 23 onwards)