India’s one of the premier Institute Birla Institute of Technology (BIT) Mesra on Tuesday said it has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Madan Mohan Mohanka, chairman of Tega Industries and a distinguished alumnus, to establish an innovation and entrepreneurship centre at its Ranchi campus.

Mohanka, a 1964 graduate of the institute, has pledged 5 crore rupees ($600,000) towards setting up the Madan Mohan Mohanka Centre for Innovation & Entrepreneurship. The centre will serve as an incubation hub for startups and aims to promote research, innovation and entrepreneurial ventures among students, faculty and young people in Jharkhand, the institute said in a statement.

The MoU was signed in the presence of C.K. Birla, chairman of the C.K. Birla Group, and several BIT Mesra alumni including Vijay Burman, Prem Anup Sinha, Anjana Dikshit and Soma Bannerjee. Vice Chancellor Prof. Indranil Manna and Dean of Alumni and International Relations Prof. Shradha Shivani represented the institute.

“With this centre, my vision is to inspire students to dream big and develop solutions that address critical challenges of our time,” Mohanka said.

BIT Mesra said the facility will provide state-of-the-art infrastructure and mentorship to entrepreneurs, with support from institutions including State Bank of India, whose deputy managing director and alumnus Prem Anup Sinha said the bank’s Startup Banking service would assist the centre.

Founded in 1955, BIT Mesra is one of India’s leading technical institutes, with a 780-acre campus in Ranchi and centres in India and overseas. It was among the first in the country to set up a department of space engineering and rocketry in 1964 and an on-campus entrepreneurs’ park.