Materials Engineering IISc

What Materials Engineering IISc does

The Department of Materials Engineering at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru, is an academic department established in 1949 (originally as the Department of Metallurgy) that conducts research and education across theoretical, experimental, and computational materials science. It offers PhD, MSc(Engg), ME, and undergraduate programs serving approximately 110+ doctoral scholars, 40+ masters students, and 15-19 undergraduates per cohort. The department's research spans advanced manufacturing, mechanical behavior, corrosion, physical/process metallurgy, bio-inspired materials, and electronic materials, supported by state-of-the-art characterization infrastructure (ESEM, EPMA, AFM, STM, XRD), mechanical testing systems (Instron, Zwick), directional solidification furnaces up to 1800°C, alloy preparation labs, and high-performance computing clusters.

The department operates as a non-profit unit within IISc, a deemed university under India's Ministry of Education. Its revenue model is anchored on government core funding via IISc, supplemented by project-based research grants from agencies including DST-SERB, Ministry of Mines, Ministry of Coal, and the National Supercomputing Mission. Industry partnerships, notably a Centre of Excellence with ITW India (BiSS Division) established in February 2022, provide additional funding for instrumentation and mechanical testing research. The department also generates nominal revenue through international conferences (e.g., STIS-V 2025) and student symposiums.

Key technology assets include the MicroSim phase-field software released as open-source on GitHub, specialized alloy preparation and directional solidification capabilities, and a 2,500 square metre new research building under construction. The department maintains a global ecosystem through endowed visiting chairs (Brahm Prakash, Adithya Birla, S. Ranganathan, Satish Dhawan, K.P. Abraham) hosting faculty from institutions including Georgia Tech, Monash, Mines ParisTech, IMDEA, UCL, University of Tokyo, and McMaster. Distribution of academic output occurs through IISc's centralized admissions for students and open-source platforms for software tools.

Name

Materials Engineering IISc

Legal name

Department of Materials Engineering, Indian Institute of Science

Website

https://materials.iisc.ac.in

Company type

Private

Founded year

1949

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

The Department of Materials Engineering at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru, is a non-profit academic department established in 1949 that conducts research and graduate/undergraduate education in materials science, serving PhD scholars, masters students, and undergraduates with government and industry research funding.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Higher Education Research

NAICS

Research and Development in the Physical, Engineering, and Life Sciences (except Nanotechnology and Biotechnology) (541715), Engineering Services (541330), Scientific Research and Development Services (5417)

SIC

Services-Commercial Physical & Biological Research (8731), Services-Engineering Services (8711), Industrial Instruments For Measurement, Display, And Control (3823)

akta.pro industry

PRIMARYEDAHAEAA

Engineering & Technology Institutes (Comprehensive)

Education/Higher Education (Colleges & Universities)/Technical & Polytechnic Universities

SECONDARYIMAAAJAG

Materials R&D & Characterization (Powder/Resin Development, Testing)

Industrials, Manufacturing & Construction/3D Printing/Additive Manufacturing R&D, Training & Certification

Keywords

• Materials science research
• Graduate engineering education
• Computational materials modeling
• Advanced materials characterization
• Metallurgy research programs

Headquarters

HQ city

Bengaluru

HQ country

India

HQ region

Asia

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Infrastructure, Technology or R&D, Operations

Revenue model

1. Government Funding (IISc): Core funding from Indian Institute of Science which receives government grants for operations and research
2. Research Project Funding: Funding from government agencies including DST-SERB, Ministry of Mines, Ministry of Coal, National Supercomputing Mission for specific research projects
3. Centre of Excellence - ITW India/BiSS: Industry partnership for developing new instrumentation and practices in advanced mechanical testing at the department
4. Conference Revenue: International conferences on ironmaking and steelmaking generate registration and participation fees

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Materials Engineering IISc is an academic department at the Indian Institute of Science that delivers graduate and undergraduate education and conducts fundamental and applied research in materials science and engineering. It offers PhD, ME, MSc(Engg), and undergraduate programs, and runs theoretical, experimental, and computational research across metallurgy, electronic materials, polymers, bio-inspired materials, and advanced manufacturing. The department operates extensive characterization, mechanical testing, alloy preparation, and high-performance computing facilities, and partners with government agencies and industry on sponsored research projects.

Product overview

Materials Engineering IISc is a university department, not a product company. It does not offer commercial products or services. The department provides academic research programs (PhD, MSc(Engg), ME degrees) and maintains research facilities and labs for educational purposes. No commercial products or services are offered.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• PhD Program in Materials Engineering
• ME (Master of Engineering) Program
• MSc(Engg) Program
• Undergraduate Materials Stream Program
• Sponsored Research and Consulting Services
• International Conference Hosting (STIS-V 2025)
• Visiting Professor Chair Programs

Quantifiable outcome

• 110+ PhD students trained
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers5 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature6 records

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• ITW India Pvt. Ltd - BiSS DivisioncoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 14 February 2022ITW India Pvt. Ltd-BiSS Division and IISc have established a Centre of Excellence at IISc to develop new instrumentation and practices in the field of advanced mechanical testing. The centre provides opportunities for people with Masters or PhD expertise in non-contact strain measurement, high temperature testing, control systems and mechanical behaviour of materials. Contact: Prof. Vikram Jayaram and Prof. Praveen Kumar.
• National Supercomputing Mission (NSM)coreTechnology or Integration · 19 April 2021National Supercomputing Mission project titled 'Repository of High performance phase-field solvers for MicrostructureSimulation (MicroSim)' - development of open-source phase-field modeling tools for high-performance computing infrastructure.
• Prof. R. R. Tummala - Georgia Institute of TechnologycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerProf. R. R. Tummala, Pettit Professor at Georgia Tech, established a fund to foster research in electronic materials at IISc via student visits to Georgia Institute of Technology. Students selected spend 3-6 months in USA with co-authorship between institutions.
• IISc Alumni Association of North America (AANA)minorOthersUS-based alumni organization (501(c) status) that channels donations to the department's Manish Narayan Memorial Endowment Fund for student travel to international conferences.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Regional players

• College of Design and Engineering, National University of Singapore (NUS): NUS's materials engineering programs in Singapore are a comparable regional academic peer with similar research thrusts (additive manufacturing, advanced characterization, thin films), but operate primarily in Southeast Asia rather than India.
• School of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanyang Technological University (NTU): NTU Singapore's School of MSE is a regional peer with overlapping research in electronic materials, characterization, and additive manufacturing, and draws on a broader multinational student and faculty base than IISc's department.

Broad incumbents

• Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Stanford University: Stanford's MSE department operates at a similar research scope (metallurgy, thin films, electronic materials, bio-inspired materials) but with substantially larger faculty, global industry partnerships, and a much broader international talent pool than IISc.
• Department of Materials Science and Engineering, UC Berkeley: Berkeley's MSE department is a leading global program with overlapping focus areas in mechanical behavior, advanced manufacturing, and computational materials, and far deeper international industry and government research relationships.
• Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT): MIT's DMSE is a globally leading materials science department with overlapping research areas in metallurgy, computational materials, and electronic materials, and a much broader global faculty, funding base, and industry footprint than IISc's department.

Direct peers

• Department of Materials Science and Engineering, IIT Delhi: IIT Delhi's MSE department offers parallel undergraduate and postgraduate programs with research in thin films, electronic materials, and processing, and competes for the same national R&D grants and faculty talent as IISc's department.
• Department of Materials Science and Engineering, IIT Kanpur: IIT Kanpur's MSE department is a comparable Indian technical-university program with overlapping research in physical metallurgy, ceramics, and computational materials science, and similar strategic-sector (atomic energy, defence) research partnerships.
• Department of Metallurgical Engineering and Materials Science, IIT Bombay: Leading Indian technical-university materials/metallurgy department at IIT Bombay with comparable PhD, MTech and UG programs and similar research thrust areas in metallurgy, processing, and characterization. Directly competes for top-tier Indian PhD applicants and central government R&D funding.
• Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, IIT Madras: IIT Madras's materials and metallurgical engineering department offers parallel academic programs and applied research in materials processing, characterization, and mechanical behavior, drawing from the same Indian applicant pool and government funding sources.
• Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, IIT Kharagpur: IIT Kharagpur's metallurgy and materials engineering department is one of India's oldest materials programs with similar scope in extractive metallurgy, physical metallurgy, and materials processing, and overlapping industry/strategic-sector sponsors.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• GitHubgithub.com/mte-iisc
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/materials-engineering-iisc-bangalore

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles5 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Materials Engineering IISc