SDG 9.1Research on industry, innovation and infrastructure
UPES builds the research facilities, partnerships and intellectual property that let new technology move from the lab into industry.
Impact
UPES research turns ideas into protected, usable technology for industry and the nation.
- A DST-FIST battery laboratory supports the design, manufacture and testing of battery packs.
- The Central Instrumentation Centre gives researchers from across the country access to advanced instruments.
- The Machine Intelligence Research Centre offers high-performance computing for AI and data science.
What the research covers
Number of papers on each theme (a paper can appear under more than one).
| Theme | Papers |
|---|---|
| Advanced materials and manufacturing | 345 |
| Energy systems and clean technology | 293 |
| IoT, networks and cybersecurity | 286 |
| AI, machine learning and data | 189 |
| Civil, transport and infrastructure | 147 |
| Innovation, business and supply chains | 140 |
| Industry 4.0/5.0 and automation | 129 |
| Aerospace and space technology | 36 |
Most cited work
- Hydrogen: A sustainable fuel for future of the transport sector (Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 2015), cited 819 times.Source: Hydrogen: A sustainable fuel for future of the transport sector
- A review on fundamentals, constraints and fabrication techniques of superhydrophobic coatings (Progress in Organic Coatings, 2020), cited 479 times.Source: A review on fundamentals, constraints and fabrication techniques of superhydrophobic coatings
- Quantum computing: A taxonomy, systematic review and future directions (Software - Practice and Experience, 2022), cited 459 times.Source: Quantum computing: A taxonomy, systematic review and future directions
- IoT based smart parking system (2016 International Conference on Internet of Things and Applications, IOTA 2016, 2016), cited 404 times.Source: IoT based smart parking system
- Exploring the effect of digital transformation on Firms’ innovation performance (Journal of Innovation and Knowledge, 2023), cited 367 times.Source: Exploring the effect of digital transformation on Firms’ innovation performance
The full list of publications, with links, is in the annexure.
Related events
Research published in Energy Economics
Research by School of Business faculty was published in the ABDC A* journal Energy Economics.
Link: LinkedIn post
Faculty research in the Journal of Business Research
Research by a School of Business faculty member was published in the Journal of Business Research (ABDC A, Q1).
Link: LinkedIn post
Research at IMRC 2025, IIM Ahmedabad
School of Business faculty presented research and case work at the India Management Research Conference hosted by IIM Ahmedabad.
Link: LinkedIn postResearch spotlights
- Defence-grade energy storage. DRDO awarded UPES, with IIT Roorkee and NIT Rourkela, a ₹5.15 crore project led by Prof Devender K. Saini to develop battery energy storage, an indigenous battery management system and a smart inverter for solar-charged microgrids in high-altitude regions such as Siachen and Ladakh. It is the first such DRDO project entrusted to a private university.
- Waste to methanol at pilot scale. With a ₹97.4 lakh ANRF grant, Dr Siddharth Jain's team is scaling technology that gasifies municipal waste and converts it into methanol from laboratory to pilot scale (technology readiness level 3 to 6), supporting the Swachh Bharat Mission and India's National Methanol Policy.
Facilities that industry can use
- Batteries and energy storage. A DST-FIST Battery Testing and Battery Management System Laboratory, funded under the Department of Science and Technology's FIST programme, supports the design, manufacture and testing of battery packs.Source: UPES research facilities, institutes and centres · UPES research infrastructureSource: UPES research infrastructure
Source: UPES research projects. - Materials. A DST-FIST grant of ₹2 crore supports an intelligent materials centre, and the Central Instrumentation Centre gives researchers from across the country access to instruments such as XRD, GC-MS, ICP-OES, FT-IR, TGA/DSC, HPLC, a sputtering system, a 3D printer and a laser cutter.Source: UPES research infrastructure
- Artificial intelligence. In 2024 UPES earmarked ₹50 crore for an AI Centre of Excellence with high-end servers, GPUs and TPUs that can host more than 50 researchers at once. The Machine Intelligence Research Centre already offers high-performance computing for AI and data science.Source: UPES earmarks ₹50 crore for an AI Centre of Excellence
Related events
Alumnus talk on transformers for large language models
Under the Kaksha initiative, alumnus Anupam Maheshwari spoke on scientific developments in transformers for large language models.
Link: LinkedIn post
Related events
New research laboratory
The school inaugurated a dedicated research laboratory to expand its interdisciplinary research.
Link: LinkedIn postResearch centres
Dedicated centres and shared laboratories bring researchers from different disciplines together. UPES reports 46 of its researchers on Stanford's list of the world's top 2% of scientists.
- Centre for Interdisciplinary Research and Innovation (CIDRI). Cross-disciplinary research, working with industry and hospitals on translational research.Source: UPES research facilities, institutes and centres
Source: UPES R&D Newsletter, December 2025, p. 12, new research centres. - Centre for Alternative Energy Research (CAER). Biofuels, plastic-waste-to-energy and microalgae biofuels.Source: UPES research facilities, institutes and centres
- AI and language research centres. The Machine Intelligence Research Centre (MIRC), the Centre for Data Science and Artificial Intelligence and the Speech and Language Research Centre (SLRC). Research in artificial intelligence, data science and language.
Related events
Faculty development programme on speech and language technologies
With the Electronics and ICT Academy, IIITDM Jabalpur (MeitY), an eight-day online programme for faculty, researchers, students and industry.
Link: LinkedIn post - Shared facilities. The Central Instrumentation Centre, a Waste-Paper Recycling Laboratory and a Medicinal and Aromatic Plants laboratory, both of which also train rural women, and the Himalayan Institute for Learning and Leadership, which works on sustainable development in the Himalayan region.Source: UPES research facilities, institutes and centres · UPES research infrastructureSource: UPES research facilities, institutes and centres
Source: UPES research infrastructure.
Conferences and research collaborations
- Cybersecurity. The School of Computer Science hosted ICACSDF 2025, the International Conference on Advancement in Cyber Security and Digital Forensics, with academia, industry and government, covering blockchain, AI-driven threat intelligence and cloud forensics.
Related events
CyberX: next-generation security series
The Centre of Cybersecurity and Mile2 ran a series on penetration testing, threat intelligence and cloud security.
Link: LinkedIn post
Visit to the Uttarakhand Cyber Crime Cell
LL.M. (Cyber Security and Digital Law) students visited the state's cyber crime cell.
Link: LinkedIn post
Expert session on the DPDP Act
Amit Wadhwa of Axis Max Life led a workshop on the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023.
Link: LinkedIn post
ICACSDF 2025 concludes
The International Conference on Advancement in Cyber Security and Digital Forensics brought academia, industry and government together on blockchain, AI-driven threat intelligence and cloud forensics.
Link: LinkedIn post - Space. The School of Advanced Engineering organised the 1st International Space Convention with the 4th National Space Convention (Renaissance 4.0) on 13–15 November 2025, with support from AIAA, ISRO, ASI, ISpA and SIA-India.
Related events
National Space Day 2025
The school marked National Space Day, which commemorates Chandrayaan-3's landing near the Moon's south pole on 23 August 2023.
Link: LinkedIn post
Renaissance 4.0 space convention
The convention featured student-built rocket launches with Thrust Tech India and discussions on the future of space innovation.
Link: LinkedIn post - AI and health care. A University of Malta delegation explored joint research on AI in health care, including transcriptomics, OCR and natural language processing for medical records, data collaboration with Malta's Ministry of Health, and student exchanges. A UPES computer scientist also presented a deep-learning model for detecting knee osteoarthritis at IEEE EMBC 2025 in Copenhagen.Source: Event report: University of Malta delegation on AI and health care
Related events
University of Malta delegation on AI and health care
Delegates explored joint research on AI in health care, including transcriptomics, OCR and natural language processing for medical data, and student exchanges.
Link: Event report
UPES at IEEE EMBC 2025, Copenhagen
Dr Rakesh Ranjan presented EFRNet, a deep hybrid model for detecting knee osteoarthritis and assessing its progression, at the 47th IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology conference.
Link: LinkedIn post - Visiting experts. Researchers from CentraleSupélec (Paris-Saclay) on machine learning in earthquake engineering, London South Bank University on AI medical imaging and structural design, Ben-Gurion University on technology in wildlife research, and the University of Malaya on quantum computing in precision medicine.Source: Event report: Workshop with London South Bank University experts
Related events
Visit by Dr Gjoko Muratovski
The Chief Innovation Officer of Icona Design visited to discuss design as a driver of transformation across industries.
Link: LinkedIn post
Research talk on machine learning in earthquake engineering
Prof Didier Clouteau of CentraleSupélec, Université Paris-Saclay, spoke on AI-driven seismic risk prediction and probabilistic methods in structural analysis.
Link: LinkedIn post
Workshop with London South Bank University experts
Dr Pawel Markiewicz introduced AI-powered medical imaging, and Prof Saurav Goel ran a hands-on masterclass on structural design with spaghetti structures.
Link: Event report
Guest talk on technology in bird research
Prof Reuven Yosef of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev spoke on how satellite tracking, GIS, AI and remote sensing are changing wildlife conservation.
Link: LinkedIn post
Quantum computing in precision medicine
Dr Vannajan Sanghiran Lee of the University of Malaya spoke on how quantum computing supports drug repurposing, gene search and molecular dynamics.
Link: LinkedIn post
Related events
Summer School on Dynamical Systems and Complexity concludes
The three-week Science Academies' Summer School brought twelve experts to UPES for lectures on dynamical systems and complex patterns.
Link: LinkedIn post
ICMLDE 2025 speakers
The School of Computer Science announced the experts speaking at ICMLDE 2025 in Dehradun.
Link: LinkedIn post
International conference on social media and AI
An online conference on “New Age Legal Dynamics: Social Media and Artificial Intelligence”.
Link: LinkedIn post
Conference on new age legal dynamics
An international conference on social media, artificial intelligence and the law.
Link: LinkedIn post
ICMS 2025 conference
The conference brought researchers and delegates together for keynote sessions and paper presentations.
Link: LinkedIn post
ICICCD 2025
The International Conference on Intelligent Communication and Computational Design brought researchers, academics and industry together.
Link: LinkedIn post
Guest lecture on biomaterials research
The Mechanical Engineering Cluster hosted Dr Yongdeok Jo, Director of R&D at Eco World (South Korea) and visiting scientist at Stevens Institute of Technology.
Link: LinkedIn post
Guest lecture on materials at small length scales
Prof Anuj Bisht of IIT Roorkee spoke on how materials behave at small length scales.
Link: LinkedIn post
Tulane University delegation
Delegates from Tulane University discussed partnerships for summer and semester abroad programmes and other joint opportunities for students and faculty.
Link: LinkedIn postWorking with national research bodies
- DRDO. On 19 July 2024 UPES held a joint workshop on materials research for defence with DRDO's Defence Materials and Stores Research and Development Establishment. At the Materializing Innovations-III workshop, the Defence Institute of Bio-Energy Research identified 15 potential areas for collaboration with UPES, including renewable energy and sustainable aviation fuel.Source: Materializing Innovations-III: DIBER-DRDO and UPES workshop
The DMSRDE and UPES workshop on materials research for defence, 19 July 2024. - Hydrogen. Mission Innovation's report on hydrogen research in India names UPES among the country's hydrogen research institutions.Source: Mission Innovation: hydrogen R&D in India (PDF)
- Public health. With Mahavir Cancer Sansthan, Patna, UPES is part of an ICMR project assessing the disease burden in populations exposed to arsenic and pesticides in the Gangetic plains of Bihar. In a related line of work, published in ACS ES&T Water, School of Health Sciences and Technology researchers studied five years of groundwater from the arsenic-contaminated shallow aquifers of Laksar, Haridwar, in the Upper Ganga Plain, and showed that indigenous arsenite-oxidising bacteria could support site-specific bioremediation.Source: UPES research projectsSource: ACS ES&T Water paper on arsenite-oxidizing bacteria
Announcement of the paper in ACS ES&T Water. Paper: Geochemistry and bioremediation implications of indigenous arsenite-oxidizing bacteria.
This section covers the indicator on research on industry, innovation and infrastructure.
Links and sources
- UPES research facilities, institutes and centreshttps://www.upes.ac.in/research/research-and-innovation-facilities-institutes-and-centres
- UPES research infrastructurehttps://research.upes.ac.in/research-infrastructure/
- UPES R&D Newsletter, July–December 2025https://upeswebsitecdn-prod-hphqfhc0b8h2ffhf.a02.azurefd.net/drupal-data/2026-05/UPES%20R%26D%20News%20Letter%20July-Dec%202025.pdf
- UPES Researchhttps://www.upes.ac.in/research
- UPES research projectshttps://www.upes.ac.in/research/projects
- UPES earmarks ₹50 crore for an AI Centre of Excellencehttps://www.upes.ac.in/blog/computer-science/upes-fuels-groundbreaking-research-earmarks-50-crore-for-ai-center-of-excellence
- DMSRDE and UPES workshophttps://www.upes.ac.in/research/events/dmsrde-and-upes-workshop
- Materializing Innovations-III: DIBER-DRDO and UPES workshophttps://www.upes.ac.in/research/events/diber-drdo-workshop
- Mission Innovation: hydrogen R&D in India (PDF)https://mission-innovation.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/H2RDD-India-FINAL.pdf
- Event report: University of Malta delegation on AI and health careupes-sdg9-event-university-of-malta-delegation-on-ai-and-health-care.html
- Event report: Workshop with London South Bank University expertsupes-sdg9-event-workshop-with-london-south-bank-university-experts.html
- Hydrogen: A sustainable fuel for future of the transport sectorhttps://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2015.06.040
- A review on fundamentals, constraints and fabrication techniques of superhydrophobic coatingshttps://doi.org/10.1016/j.porgcoat.2020.105557
- Quantum computing: A taxonomy, systematic review and future directionshttps://doi.org/10.1002/spe.3039
- IoT based smart parking systemhttps://doi.org/10.1109/IOTA.2016.7562735
- Exploring the effect of digital transformation on Firms’ innovation performancehttps://doi.org/10.1016/j.jik.2023.100317
Supporting documents
These documents support the evidence in this report.
- Solar energy and energy efficiency (PDF).
- Water treatment and reuse (PDF).
- AICWiC'25: ACM India Celebration of Women in Computing (PDF).
- Alumnus named in Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia 2025 (PDF).
- AWS Community Day Dehradun 2025 (PDF).
- Code Connect mentoring event (PDF).
- CXO Insights: digital transformation (PDF).
- Distinguished professors join HILL (PDF).
- DrishtiKone 2025: an industry perspective (PDF).
- Institute of Chartered Shipbrokers and Maritime SkillsPlus delegation (PDF).
- Masterclass on climate risk profiling (PDF).
- Pre-incubation cohort 4: microgrants for six start-ups (PDF).
- Udbhav 2025 state hackathon (PDF).
- University of Malta delegation on AI and health care (PDF).
- WAAI'25: Workshop on Advances in Automotive Industry (PDF).
- Workshop with London South Bank University experts (PDF).
- Young Founder Summit 2025 (PDF).