IIT Hyderabad opens Heritage Science & Technology department to explore untapped potential of Indian heritage

The Indian Institute of Technology, Hyderabad has opened a 'first of its kind' Department of Heritage Science and Technology, and is offering a new M.Tech., programme in the subject.

HST is established with the aim of unlocking the latent value in Indian heritage assets by developing technology to help the fragmented segment to aggregate, modernize and scale, IIT professors said.

The online course in Heritage Science and Technology would be offered with three specializations - science & technology of Yoga, Indic language processing, and conservation and reconstruction of heritage architecture.

The new department was opened on the occasion of the International Yoga Day, on Tuesday by Padma Bhushan Dr Vijay Bhatkar, best known as the father of India’s PARAM series supercomputers.

“Bringing heritage and science together to India’s premier institutions is a small but giant step in Indian academics. This shows the way to recreate the ancient Takshashilas and Nalandas in a contemporary form. Happy to note that IIT Hyderabad has taken the lead in this aspect,” Dr Bhatkar said.

Dr Mohan Raghavan, department head, said, “Our heritage, including our monuments, archaeological sites, language, dress, knowledge systems, and indigenous technologies are assets for all of humanity. HST helps enrich lives and livelihoods around heritage and automatically ensures that heritage survives and thrives”.

The M.Tech. course, beginning in August 2022, will be in online mode for two years, where the second year is for a thesis project with focus on either research or product development. There is an option to exit at the end of first year (after course work) with a Post-Graduate Diploma (PGD) in HST. The course would have in-campus, in-person weekend workshop/hackathon at the end of each semester.

Prof B S Murty, Director, IIT-H, expects that the department would allow exploration of India’s scientific heritage. “There is an acute need to undertake this exploration without any biases and in the true spirit of rigorous science”.