BANGALORE, INDIA: Autodesk Inc, the world's leading design software and digital solutions company and the Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT-M), one of India's foremost institutes for technology education have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to establish a first of its kind, state-of-the-art 'Integrated Construction Practice Laboratory' for study and research in areas such as Integrated Construction Practice.

The laboratory will be the nucleus for a consortium of facility owners, contractors, consultants and researchers formed to address need based research in the area. IITM will also initiate a graduate level course in "Integrated Construction Practice" for its students and jointly conduct a 'Finishing school on Integrated Construction Practice' with Autodesk.

Autodesk will also collaborate closely with IIT Madras in developing design courseware and curriculum in the area of Integrated Construction Practice. The lab will serve as a learning center for architects, civil & construction engineers on the use of model-based design software for Building Information Modeling (BIM) and Integrated Construction Practice. The lab will be equipped with the latest versions of Autodesk software such as Revit Architecture, Revit MEP and Revit Structure, AutoCAD Civil 3D, AutoCAD Map 3Dand Autodesk Naviswork. Students at IIT Madras will also receive access to the global Autodesk Student Engineering and Design Community portal to download the free* software they need to bring their designs to life. 

Rajiv Nair, Regional Director, Autodesk India & SAARC region said, "We are very excited to partner with IIT Madras, an institution of global repute. At Autodesk, we are strongly committed towards ensuring that the education community, both students and faculty have access to international best practices in the area of design. We strongly believe that through this partnership, Autodesk and IIT Madras will give students the competitive edge to start their careers at a different echelon, which would help create the required talent pool for this fast evolving industry."

Speaking on the initiative, Tom Joseph, Director, Worldwide Education Program, Asia Pacific, Emerging & Central said, "India is on the threshold of a boom in the Construction and Infrastructure sector. With this partnership students would be encouraged to use the latest versions of Autodesk software and solutions to complete and submit their project work. This tie-up we believe, will be beneficial not only to the students but also the industry as this would help the students and the faculty keep abreast of the latest technologies in this field."

Professor MS Ananth, Director, IIT-Madras said, "We are increasingly seeing the benefits of using intelligent design technologies in all fields of engineering. This MOU between IIT Madras and Autodesk will empower our students to be trained in interdisciplinary areas for the design of constructed facilities.  We look forward to Autodesk's support in helping to create a new breed of design professionals to support infrastructure development in our country."