Held at the IIT KGP Research Park in Newtown, Kolkata, on January 17–18, 2026, the first Impact RISE Conclave was a huge success. To further India’s sustainable development agenda through research, innovation, skilling, and entrepreneurship (RISE), the two-day event, which had as its theme “Forging Futures: Engineering Social Change– Converging Capital, Innovation, and Action”, brought together ministers, senior government officials, PSU leaders, scientists, academics, impact investors, and non-governmental organizations.

The launch of the Impact RISE Impact Venture Fund to support scalable impact ventures, the launch of the Paani Bawni initiative along with book releases on water conservation, the signing of Memorandums of Understanding with Texmaco Rail & Engineering Limited and Indian Chamber of Commerce to promote long-term collaborations, and the publication of the IIT KGP Impact Portfolio, a comprehensive coffee table book outlining the vision, mission, and highlights of the Impact RISE initiative, including a selection of startups.

The event also included the introduction of the “Catch Them Young” Youth Entrepreneurship Development Program, which offers yearly internships to 500 undergraduates; the launch of IIT Kharagpur’s Sus10 initiatives, which include ten new startups, ten sustainability certification programs, and ten campus development projects aimed at achieving a net-zero campus; a fruitful Sandbox workshop that produced co-created blueprints for challenges like net-zero campus and sustainable villages; and a talk by Dr. Neelima Alam on technology.

The event was attended by 45 eminent guests, including the Hon’ble Minister Shri Bhupender Yadav, ISRO Chairman Dr. V. Narayanan, 51st Chief Justice Shri Sanjiv Khanna, Nuclear Scientist Dr. K. N. Vyas, and the former Chairman and Director of the Bhabha Atomic Research Center, Shri. Gopal Singh, Coal India Limited (CIL), Former Dg & CEO, Dr. Bhaskar Chatterjee, Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs (IICA), Shri. Pradeep Tripathi, Independent Director, Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL), Smt. Sreerupa Mitra Chaudhury, Government of Bengal, and Dr. Neelima Alam (DST), alongside leaders from BEL, CIL, Pontaq VC, Caspian VC, and others.  Prof. Surjya Pal, Dean (R&D), and Prof. Abhijit Mukherjee, Associate Dean R&D, hosted the event.

The conclave featured high-level plenary sessions, keynote speeches, policy discussions, impact leadership talks, theme deep dives, a Sandbox ideation workshop, and several noteworthy launch events. With a focus on sustainable rural development, health and sanitation, education and skills, clean energy, climate resilience, ecology, tribal affairs, mobility, CSR 2.0, local governance, and global sustainability frameworks, it closely matched both national missions and the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

IIT Kharagpur’s Platinum Jubilee pledge to creating quantifiable, inclusive societal transformation through innovation ecosystems has reached a significant milestone with the Impact RISE Conclave.

Priyanka Dutta