Grow at home, engage abroad: External Affairs Minister Jaishankar tells students at IIT Madras event

Union Minister for External Affairs S. Jaishankar, connected Friday (January 2, 2026), launched the IITM Global Research Foundation which is conceived arsenic a strategic, sustainable and scalable level to instrumentality IIT Madras’s academic, probe and innovation strengths to the planetary stage. The Minister besides inaugurated ‘IITM Festival Fortnight,’ which includes the unfastened house, done which the nationalist is fixed entree to IITMs’ labs and innovation centres, Shaastra, the yearly method festival and Saarang, the yearly taste festival.

During a fireside chat with Mith R. Jain, co-curricular affairs secretary, IIT Madras, helium said countries person grown by increasing astatine location and past engaging abroad, leveraging the planetary situation successful a mode contributing to it and gaining from it.

“When we accidental ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’, the word is we person ne'er considered the satellite arsenic a inimical oregon hostile spot from which we person to defensively support ourselves. We person limitations connected our resources. With constricted resources however bash you person maximum impact? That is really the occupation that has to beryllium solved. What we effort to bash successful Indian Foreign Policy and diplomacy contiguous is lick that problem. We effort to bash that partially utilizing our competitiveness and strengths and leveraging different institutions and possibilities,” helium added.

Citing an illustration Mr. Jaishankar said: “An IIT Madras field successful Tanzania is simply a mode by which Indian Foreign Policy has leveraged the capabilities of an instauration present to marque a immense impact.”

To a query connected however to forestall different countries from misreading India’s intentions, Mr. Jaishankar said it could beryllium done done communication. “If you pass well, intelligibly and honestly, different countries and different radical respect it and judge it. A batch of radical crossed the satellite are arrogant of their culture, contented and heritage. I spot nary crushed wherefore we should not be. There are truly precise fewer past civilizations which person survived to go large modern federation states and we are 1 of them.”

He further said, “We person a consciousness of our past which precise fewer countries have... It was our determination to opt for a antiauthoritarian governmental exemplary which made the precise thought of ideology arsenic a cosmopolitan governmental concept. Had we not gone that way, the antiauthoritarian model, arsenic we cognize it, would person been determination and narrow... Partnership with the West is besides important and that is however we signifier the world.”

As portion of the IITM Global rollout, IIT Madras has signed a bid of memoranda of knowing with starring multinational institutions and partners crossed cardinal planetary regions. These see 3 MoUs successful the United States, 1 successful the United Kingdom, 3 successful Germany, 3 successful Dubai, 3 crossed the Asia-Pacific portion including Singapore and Malaysia, and six nether the India-for-Global initiative. The partnerships are focused connected associated research, manufacture and startup collaboration, planetary endowment and cognition exchange, and translating deep-tech innovation into real-world applications.

V. Kamakoti, Director, IIT Madras, said, “IITM Global Research Foundation is simply a planetary outreach inaugural of IIT Madras aimed astatine strengthening planetary collaborations. It follows a four-pronged approach. First, we purpose to instrumentality our technologies overseas and research opportunities for exertion transportation crossed antithetic countries. Second, we program to bring projects from these nations nether associated improvement agreements, enabling our module to enactment connected and supply solutions to planetary challenges. Third, we purpose to present our start-ups to concern opportunities successful these countries. Fourth, we purpose to pull overseas investments into our start-ups.”

He added, “These 4 verticals signifier the halfway absorption of IITM Global. Initially, we are establishing a beingness successful 5 locations, including the United States, Dubai, Malaysia and Germany. Based connected success, this inaugural volition beryllium expanded to aggregate nations.”