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Hyderabad, 25 June 2026: The International Institute of Information Technology Hyderabad (IIIT Hyderabad) commemorates the launch of Roots & Wings: Building India's Deep Tech Ecosystem, the official biography of Padma Shri Dr. Ashok Jhunjhunwala, the Chairman of the institute's Governing Council, and one of India's leading technologists, innovators and builders of institutions. Roots & Wings is written by Saloni Malhotra, an entrepreneur and builder of ecosystems. The book sketches Dr. Jhunjhunwala's extraordinary life for the last four decades, beginning when he came back to India in 1981, believing that world-class technologies could be developed in India. It describes in detail the leadership and collaboration that form the basis of his long-standing support for technology and his contribution to entrepreneurship and patriotism.
While a professor at IIT Madras, Dr. Jhunjhunwala redefined the interface of academia and industry in India and promoted research that solved social problems. His work and thought touch on the telecommunications revolution and the startup ecosystem in India, electric mobility, and energy systems. He has guided countless researchers, entrepreneurs, and innovators in India and beyond. His work has invigorated one of India's most active deep-tech ecosystems.
As Chairman of IIIT Hyderabad's Governing Council, Dr. Jhunjhunwala has reinforced the Institute's strategic focus on research and innovation and has provided leadership on entrepreneurship and societal impact. His vision is complementary to IIIT Hyderabad's focus area.
While congratulating Dr. Jhunjhunwala on his book's publication, Prof. Sandeep Shukla, Director of IIIT Hyderabad, highlighted Dr. Jhunjhunwala's decades-long impact on Indian tech and innovation, his insights on research translation and social impact, and his work as the Governing Council chair. IIIT Hyderabad appreciates the significant impact his decades of tireless work on research and social impact have made on our community. Roots and Wings documents his decades of work in a book that describes his journey and the evolution of India's deep-tech ecosystem.
Roots and Wings goes beyond being a standard biography. It provides deep-tech research and development and entrepreneurship insights through the lens of one of India's deep-tech pioneers. It provides analysis and lessons to researchers, entrepreneurs, and even policymakers on how innovation hubs and leadership combine to provide constructive and lasting impact.
Dr. Ashok Jhunjhunwala's contribution to the deep-tech community and to IIIT Hyderabad has been immense. We congratulate him on the publication of Roots and Wings.
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