ZEISS Joins Forces with IIT-Madras Research Park to Launch ZEISS Innovation Hub

• The ZEISS Innovation Hub expands the company’s global innovation footprint, reflecting India's evolving innovation ecosystem.
• The hub is designed to accelerate innovation by bringing together academia, startups, industry, and researchers.
• Focused on areas like advanced frugal engineering and robotics, the hub will foster collaboration to advance research, validate new ideas, and translate them into scalable solutions.
  

Chennai, India | 03 September 2026 | ZEISS Group

ZEISS, an international leading technology enterprise operating in the fields of optics and optoelectronics, today launched ZEISS Innovation Hub at IIT Madras Research Park (IITMRP), Chennai.

The inauguration ceremony was graced by leadership teams from ZEISS and IIT-M Research Park. The dignitaries included Andreas Pecher, President and CEO of the ZEISS Group, Natarajan Malupillai — Group CEO, IIT Madras Research Park, Professor Ashok Jhunjhunwala (Founder, Research Park). Dr. Max Riedel — Head of Innovation Management, Corporate Research & Technology (CRT), Miguel Gonzalez Diaz, Managing Director of ZEISS India, Dhaval Radia — Chief Financial Officer, ZEISS India, and Dr. Oshin Behl — Head, ZEISS Innovation Hub Chennai.

Located within IIT Madras Research Park, the new ZEISS Innovation Hub will strengthen collaboration between ZEISS' global research network and the IIT Madras ecosystem, bringing together faculty, researchers, startups and industry to accelerate long-term research and technology translation. The hub will focus on areas including advanced frugal engineering, harsh-environment optics, robotics and fluid dynamics, while fostering interdisciplinary research with real-world industrial applications. It will also support researcher exchanges, postgraduate research and closer engagement with IIT Madras students and graduates.

Speaking at the launch, Andreas Pecher, President and CEO of the ZEISS Group, said: “As a foundation-owned company, ZEISS has always taken a long-term approach to innovation and sustainable growth. The establishment of the ZEISS Innovation Hub in Chennai, India, reflects our confidence in the country's rapidly evolving innovation ecosystem and its growing significance as a strategic market. We remain committed to advancing breakthrough technologies, fostering deeper collaboration with our customers, partners and research community, and accelerating innovations that create lasting value. The dynamic ecosystem at IIT Madras Research Park provides an ideal platform to co-develop future-ready solutions and shape the next generation of technologies for India and the world.”

ZEISS Innovation Hubs are built around the ambition to transform today's research into tomorrow's applications by identifying high-potential technologies, validating their feasibility, and accelerating innovations that can shape industries over the next decade and beyond. The new hub expands this global research footprint, creating opportunities to collaborate with the IITM Research Park’s world-class research talent and deep-tech innovation ecosystem.

Natarajan Malupillai, Group CEO, IITM Research Park & Incubation Cell said, “The establishment of the ZEISS Innovation Hub at IIT Madras Research Park is a significant milestone for both our institutions. ZEISS brings 180 years of unparalleled leadership in precision optics, microscopy and advanced engineering, while IIT Madras Research Park has built one of India's most vibrant deep-tech innovation ecosystems. By joining hands, we have an opportunity to combine these complementary strengths to accelerate frontier research, develop globally competitive technologies to create a distinct innovation advantage that benefits both industry and society.”

With the addition of ZEISS, IIT Madras Research Park continues to strengthen its position as a destination for global corporations seeking research-led collaboration in India. Today, the ecosystem brings together over 250 research-driven companies & labs, startups and Centres of Excellence, creating opportunities for collaborative research, talent development and the commercialization of emerging technologies across multiple deep-tech sectors.

IIT Madras Research Park (IITMRP) is India’s first university-based research park and a DSIR recognized Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (SIRO), created to bridge the gap between academia and industry and accelerate deep-tech innovation. Spread over more than 11 acres with over 1.2 million square feet of workspace, it hosts 250+ research-driven companies, global corporations, 17 centres of excellence and is home to 580+ startups working across multiple sectors and technologies. It fosters collaboration by providing advanced infrastructure, laboratories, and direct access to world-class faculty and research scholars from IIT Madras for translating academic research into commercial technologies and products.

Further information at respark.iitm.ac.in