Centre for Innovation, IIT Madras

Setup with the funds from Class of 1981, CFI is a student run laboratory at IIT Madras, operational and open 24x7. CFI will have large empty spaces.

The Centre for Innovation is a ‘Student Lab’ at IIT Madras. Set up with funds donated by the batch of 1981, it is set in the building that houses the Central Workshop, right in the middle of the academic zone in the beautiful IIT Madras Campus. The long term vision of CFI is:

“To promote informal learning and foster innovation and invention in technology, with a focus on technologies aimed at con

tributing positively to the environment and to the society”

The vision of CFI is being achieved by espousing 4 major concepts:

1. Walk in with an idea, walk out with a product

Among the general demographic, students are more likely to come up with new, creative and outrageous ideas. Add to this the fact that students at IIT Madras are competent in engineering studies, we get a potent mix of creative and skilled set of people who are ready to innovate. To realize these strengths of the student community, the CFI will provide the right environment and resources. CFI will try to be a place where a student can ‘walk in with an idea and walk out with a product’. The innovation itself is sometimes only a small part of the story as it encourages students to think freely. Free thinking leaders are an asset to and future leaders of any society.

2. Support large student team projects

CFI will support large student projects. These projects maybe for international contests such as Robocon (Robotics), Formula-SAE, International Aerial Robotics Competition (IARC) or Federation of International Robotics Association (FIRA). They may also be for showcasing Shaastra series of Spirit of Engineering (SoE) projects. Such projects encourage teamwork and build character and confidence in the students and serve as inspiration to other students.

3. Encourage socially relevant projects

India is increasingly aware that for uniform progress, we have to look for solutions to problems in the villages and other sub-urban societies. These solutions are unlikely to come from outside India as the problems themselves are very India specific. CFI intends to encourage students to look at socially relevant projects. Additionally, the CFI will also encourage projects that look at environment friendly solutions.

4. A futuristic lab environment

The interiors of CFI are being developed in collaboration with a celebrated green architect. The interiors are being designed to stimulate creative thinking, to be non-linear and adaptive, to be informal and ice-cream shop relaxing. The most important part of the innovation process is free thinking and the interiors of CFI aim at giving that freedom to its users. Large empty spaces serve as areas which clear up mental clutter, especially when users are in a creative block. They also serve as space for future expansion. CFI will also have a gallery that will showcase successful projects.

31/10/2025

✨ Greetings from the Centre For Innovation (CFI), IIT Madras! ✨

We’re thrilled to invite you to Research Conclave 2025, happening on 2nd November, 9 AM – 6 PM at Terrace Hall (Campus Cafe, 2nd Floor) & Sudha and Shankar Innovation Hub.
A celebration of student-led research and innovation, the conclave brings together brilliant minds to collaborate, exchange ideas, and showcase impactful projects shaping tomorrow.

Photos from Centre for Innovation, IIT Madras's post

15/03/2025

Grab your “Inspire Tee” at our NAC-2 Stalls

23/08/2024

🚀 Happy Space Day, India! 🇮🇳

Today, CFI proudly celebrates the incredible space innovations that our country has achieved. We're thrilled to highlight two of our own— and — who are making significant strides in the space realm.

developed Stellar Snap, a groundbreaking project focused on adaptive filtering of long exposure astronomical images, using advanced metrics to enhance image quality and discard subpar results.

made us proud by participating in the Spaceport America Cup 2024, where they ranked as the best team in Asia, secured 11th place in the 10k COTS category, and achieved an impressive 20th overall ranking.

Let’s continue to push the boundaries of what’s possible!

18/11/2021

We at CFI IIT Madras have launched the chennaiwaterlogging.org platform, which is a site that enables users/public to report details such as flood location and water depth, as well as add photos of these flood sites with a description across the Chennai region.
The data collected through this platform will be used to create a real-time flood map. We aim to improve disaster preparedness and response in communities by gathering, sorting, and presenting flooding reports. This crowd-sourced data will also help us understand the reasons for waterlogging and help IIT Madras researchers develop remedial measures that may be recommended to civic bodies.

21/04/2021

Are you a tech enthusiast who aspires to push your boundaries by working with like-minded individuals? If so, join India's largest student-run Innovation lab and start your own journey of Innovation! We are opening recruitment for the coordinator positions to our various teams.
Join our Aspiring Coordinators Meet on 22nd April at 7:30 PM to know more!
More details in your smail

02/04/2021

Are you packed with great ideas but don't know where to begin? CFI's Student Innovation Program is the perfect fit for you! Work with mentors who will assist you in developing your ideas and bringing them into practise. Come off to the Student Innovation Program 2021 Orientation Session.

Check your smail for more details

24/02/2021

The time has come for our much anticipated annual flagship event "The CFI Open House".
The largest student-run tech exhibit of 2021, the event will display the recent works and achievements of our student innovators.
Don't miss your chance to network with members of CFI and get an insight into how ideas are transformed into projects.

The completely 'virtual' open house will be happening on 27th of February from 3PM to 7PM. Visit the CFI website for more Details

01/02/2021

Electronics Club IIT Madras presents one-of-a-kind and compact Custom Dev Board all designed and tested!
The board is developed around the ESP32 WROOM SoC and comes with WiFi and Bluetooth functionalities. It has an inbuilt IMU sensor used for orientation measurements. It is fairly compact and it has the CFI and Electronics Club logos, giving it a classy look!
Curious? More info at - https://cfi-electronics-club.github.io/

28/01/2021

01/01/2021

Happy New Year

05/12/2020

Hope you have had a great start to the online semester!! Now that you have begun your insti life, lets talk *Tech and Business*. Does robots, drones, startups, etc excite you?? Do you wanna build the next BYJU'S, Dream 11 or probably Tesla? The *Co-Curricular Sphere* of IIT Madras gives you a chance to explore all of them and build even more.

To get you started with your journey, we bring to you the *Co-Curricular Orientation on 7th December at 4 pm* to give you insights about the Co-Curricular Culture at IIT Madras and how you can be a part of it.

*Join the below discord channel for updates* on the exciting events.

https://discord.gg/xd2GrMmBrW

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Location

Chennai

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Telephone

+916282616914

Website

http://cfi.iitm.ac.in/

Address

IIT Chennai
Chennai
600036