Saint-Gobain Recherche, the research and development wing of the French glass and construction materials manufacturer, has struck a research partnership — a joint development agreement — with the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras (IITM).

For Saint-Gobain, which has set up two plants in India, and is on its way to the third in Rajasthan, this a first and is strategic in India, after its alliances with University of Harvard, University of Sao Paulo, Moscow State University and ESPCI, Paris.

“IIT-M was chosen for our partnership after two years of deliberation, which is pretty fast for the French,” said Saint Gobain Sekurit India managing director Sreeram Srinivasan. With an annual R&D budget of Euro 400 million, Saint-Gobain is clear that the research it initiates and sponsors in IITM would be directly related to its product line and will be aimed at long term benefits for the company. Each of those research projects would amount to anywhere between a few lakhs to a crore, in rupees.

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