IIIT Dharwad
IIIT Dharwad is an Institute of National Importance established by an act of Parliament (23 of 2017) set up in PPP mode between the Ministry of Education, Government of India, Government of Karnataka, and KEONICS. Dr. Sridhar Vembu is the Chairperson IIIT Dharwad who is co-founder and Chief Scientist of Zoho Corporation, a globally respected technology leader and a pioneer in rural development through innovation.
The Institute's Director, Prof. S. R. Mahadeva Prasanna, Board, and Senate constitute highly eminent leaders from the administration, academia, and industry. They are instrumental in steering the Institute in the right direction. IIIT Dharwad is a self-sustaining Public-Private-Parterner (PPP) institute where all the running expenses, including salaries, are met by student's tuition and other fees.
Dr. Sridhar Vembu Chairperson BoG
Dr. Sridhar Vembu is the co-founder and Chief Scientist of Zoho Corporation, a globally respected technology leader and a pioneer in rural development through innovation. Raised in a humble village in Tamil Nadu, India, Dr. Vembu's academic journey led him to earn a degree in Electrical Engineering from IIT Madras and a Ph.D. from Princeton University. In 1996, he co-founded AdventNet, which evolved into Zoho Corporation in 2009. Under his visionary leadership, Zoho grew into a global provider of cloud-based business software, empowering millions of users and businesses across the world. The company operates with a strong philosophy of self-reliance, long-term thinking, and customer-focused innovation.
A defining aspect of Dr. Vembu's mission has been his unwavering commitment to social impact. He has championed the establishment of offices in rural areas, such as Tenkasi in Tamil Nadu, to decentralize opportunities and bring technological innovation closer to underserved regions. His initiative, Zoho Schools of Learning, offers free vocational education to high school graduates, especially from rural communities, providing them with hands-on training and job opportunities without the burden of a formal college degree. Dr. Vembu's approach to business blends technological excellence with deep social responsibility. His work has earned him numerous accolades, including the Padma Shri in 2021 and CNN-News18 Indian of the Year in 2022. In 2025, he transitioned from the role of CEO to Chief Scientist, dedicating his focus to research, product innovation, and the long-term vision of Zoho.
Respected for his humility, foresight, and belief in inclusive growth, Dr. Sridhar Vembu continues to inspire a generation of entrepreneurs to think beyond conventional boundaries and create impact-driven enterprises.
Prof. S. R. Mahadeva Prasanna, Director IIIT Dharwad
Prof. S. R. Mahadeva Prasanna is a recipient of the National Award for Teachers 2023 from the honorable President of India Smt. Droupadi Murmu. He is currently working as Director, IIIT Dharwad on leave from IIT Dharwad. He is Professor in the Dept. of Electrical, Electronics and Communication (EECE) at IIT Dharwad. He was Dean(Faculty Welfare) at IIT Dharwad before taking charge of Director at IIIT Dharwad. He was earlier Professor in the Dept. of Electronics and Electrical Engineering and Dean (Research & Development), IIT Guwahati. He earned his PhD from IIT Madras in 2004, MTech from NITK Surathkal (then KREC Surathkal) in 1997 and BE from SSIT Tumakuru in 1994. He teaches signal processing, speech processing, artificial intelligence, machine learning and deep learning related courses. His research interests are in speech processing. He has supervised 28 PhD research scholars in the areas of speech and handwriting processing. Currently 7 scholars are working for their PhD / MS degrees. He has published over 115 journal articles and 200 conference articles in reputed national and international journals and conferences. He has executed large volume externally funded projects from public and private funding agencies. He is also a consultant for many industries working in the niche technology areas, especially, speech technology.
On the academic administration front, at IIT Guwahati he was faculty-in-charge, counseling cell, chairman, students’ welfare board, organizing vice-chairman, GATE 2010, Chairman, GATE 2011, Associate Dean (Research and Development) and Dean (Research & Development). At IIT Dharwad, he was Dean (Faculty Welfare) and Dean (Research & Development) from July 2017 till March 2023. From March 2023 till April 2024, he continued as Dean (Faculty Welfare). He also served IIT Dharwad on different committees towards setting up the institute of national importance in Dharwad, Karnataka.
Vision, Mission and Values
Our Vision
“To be a globally renowned academy of information technology for societal development.”
Our Mission
i. To produce globally competent information technology professionals with the right mix of professional skills and ethical, societal and environmental concerns.
ii. To solve local problems using global technologies and solve global problems using local technologies across disciplines.
iii. To project the nation to the forefront of information technology research and development.
Our Core Values
Integrity, Service, Positivity, Commitment and Passion for Technology
Innovation
IIIT Dharwad is innovating in all its aspects: teaching, curriculum, campus design, and R&D. The idea is to ensure that nothing is boring or ordinary about IIIT Dharwad!
Teaching-Learning: Being a technical institute of national importance, a special emphasis is given to practice-based teaching and learning process.
Curriculum Design: The curriculum at IIIT Dharwad is evolving, and dynamic to ensure that the courses taught are current and relevant. The Institute has not hesitated to break out of outdated conventions. It has introduced an IT-focused curriculum from the first semester (e.g., no chemistry) with elective subjects offered in data science, AI, machine learning, IoT, cloud computing, and Blockchain, to name a few. Ample opportunities are provided to learn these cutting-edge areas practically through mini and major projects and events like hackathons.
Visit the department website for further details:
Campus Facility
IIIT Dharwad has a brand new, spacious (60 acres) campus with a unique, modern, green design for a smart IT campus. It is equipped with a Multi-Function Hall with Indoor Courts and other courts, outdoor sports facilities, a dedicated student activities building with a gym, a natural water body, campus-wide Wi-Fi, including outdoors and modern IT-enabled classrooms.
Hostel
A 300-seater girls’ hostel, constructed by Infosys as part of its Corporate Social Responsibility initiative, is now ready for occupation at IIIT Dharwad. Additionally, a 600-seater boys’ hostel of the same design and quality is also available.
The institute is currently constructing a new 1000-seater boys’ hostel to further expand its on-campus accommodation.
Presently, hostel accommodation on campus is limited and is allotted to boys on a first-come, first-served basis. An additional hostel facility, fully managed by the institute, is available outside the campus.
Research and Development
The hallmark of a good institute is its strength in research. Aptly IIIT Dharwad is being nurtured as a research institute to have close collaborations with the IT industry and other premier R&D institutes. Faculty at IIIT-Dharwad have a wide range of research expertise and experience covering many areas of Information Technology including Data analytics, machine learning, and social network analysis, Computer networks and security , Knowledge management, information retrieval, ontology and semantic web technologies, Digital signal processing and speech technologies, Embedded systems, sensors, MEMS, nano technology and VLSI, Robotics, unmanned vehicles, control and communication technologies, Power electronics and alternative energy systems, Quantum physics, material science and engineering, Social sciences, including women studies and communication, Algorithms, Computational Geometry, Graph theory, networks etc.