IIT Bombay was pleased to host a Canadian high-level delegation on 28th February, 2026. The delegation was led by Hon’ble Mr. Maninder Sidhu, Minister of International Trade and included Mr. Matt Jeneroux, MP, House of Commons; Mr. Kevin Lamoureux, Chief of Staff, Ministry of International Trade; Mr. Martin Barratt, Senior Trade Commissioner, CG of Canada, Bengaluru; Ms. Charlotte, Global Affairs Canada; Mr. Aladin Legault d'Auteuil, Trade Commissioner, Global Affairs Canada and Mr. Joachim Rocha, Trade Commissioner, Trade Office of Canada, Ahmedabad.
The delegation met Prof. Sudarshan Kumar, Dean (International Relations), Prof. Neeraj Kumbhakarna, Associate Dean (Infrastructure, Planning and Support) and team of office of International Relations. Discussions focused on strengthening partnerships with existing Canadian university collaborators and identifying active partners to further deepen engagement. Key research themes included applications of AI & ML across sectors, Health tech innovation and other emerging areas of strategic importance. The Hon’ble Minister assured support in exploring funding avenues to further enhance joint research collaboration between IIT Bombay and Canadian Universities.
The visit was followed by an interaction at Society for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (SINE) with Prof. Nishant Sharma, Professor-in-Charge and Mr. Shaji, CEO, where discussions were held on mentorship and startup collaborations between the IIT Bombay and Canadian entrepreneurship ecosystems. They also toured select startups incubated at SINE and interacted with founders to understand the innovation journey. The delegation had a particularly engaging discussion with one of the startups working on advanced screening solutions for the early detection of Down syndrome in unborn babies in pregnant women.
The delegation also visited the IIT Bombay Research Park and met CEO Dr. Rajappa Tadepalli and discussed more about industry-academia partnerships and translational research initiatives. The visit concluded with a shared commitment to building meaningful bridges between researchers, innovators and entrepreneurs at IIT Bombay and leading Canadian institutions, thereby deepening the India–Canada partnership in research, innovation and entrepreneurship.