Galgotias filed over 2,200 patents since 2011, more than IITs combined in 2022-23, but only 24 granted; ‘Heart goes out to students,’ says Harsh Goenka

Amid the India AI Impact Summit controversy over Galgotias University’s false claim about a Chinese robot being their own invention, industrialist Harsh Goenka has taken pot-shots at the Noida-based varsity, citing a 2020 research paper that claimed ‘Coronavirus is killed by sound vibrations produced by Thali and Ghanti’.

“Galgotias, now in the news for robots, is the same university whose faculty once published a paper suggesting that thali and bell vibrations could kill coronavirus. My heart goes to the students of this university who will feel ashamed to say where they are studying,” Goenka said in a post on X.

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At the India AI Impact Summit held in New Delhi between February 16-20, the university displayed a China-made robotic dog. Speaking to a news reporter, Neha Singh, the Head of Department, Communication at Galgotias University, claimed that the robodog was invented at the varsity’s Centre of Excellence.

The claim was quickly fact-checked by social media users, who pointed out that the robot was developed by Chinese robotics firm Unitree and the varsity had purchased it.

After the controversy, the university vacated the summit pavilion and issued an apology for the “confusion”, blaming it on the “ill-informed” professor.

In a statement, the varsity said that the professor was not aware of the technical origins of the product and gave incorrect information in her “enthusiasm of being on camera”.

Galgotias filed over 2,200 patents since 2011 but only 1 per cent granted

Galgotias professor Neha Singh had also made a major claim that the University has invested Rs 350 crore in its Centre of Excellence. However, the university’s record is dismal when it comes to creating original technologies and products.

According to the Government of India’s data, Galgotias University has filed 2,297 patents since 2011. This number was even higher than the Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) – IIT Bombay, IIT Madras and IIT Kanpur, which have filed 1,646, 1,782 and 939 patent applications, respectively.

In fact, Galgotias filed more patents (1083) than the IITs combined (803) in 2022-23.

However, Galgotias was granted only 24 of them or around one per cent of the total patents it filed. The publication and the grant of patents is seen as a key indicator of an educational institute’s researchers’ prowess.