MUMBAI: The Research Park at IIT-Bombay , which was conceptualised in 2014, will be making its debut this year, in the academic area of the campus in Powai. While the dedicated building may take time till 2019 to be complete, the interim arrangement will start functioning this year with a few firms who have already collaborated with the institute. The research park aims to establish an innovation hub through industry-academia collaboration and also to promote entrepreneurship.This will also allow students to get good exposure into the real-world applications in their chosen fields under the supervision of corporate experts, mentioned an article in the students’ magazine, Insight. “The research park will significantly increase industry-IIT-B interaction and thereby enhance the output of translational research - that is research with direct societal and industrial relevance and benefit. The move will also be favourable for professors, who could get R&D grants from companies having their facilities located in close proximity. As for the firms, apart from having access to the expertise of professors in the institute, they will also have access to the state-of-the-art facilities available in IIT-Bombay,” mentioned the article.The plan to set up the park started in 2014. Phase I of the project that will be completed by January 2019 will see the first dedicated building of the park. The research park will be coming up on the outskirts of the campus, behind the Renaissance Hotel and will cover an area of about 2.5 lakh square feet.