IIT Jammu, IFC, and Tabreed India unite for climate-smart cooling innovation lab

In a groundbreaking collaboration within the subcontinent, the Indian IIT Jammu, the IFC, and cooling utility leader Tabreed India have joined forces to establish an innovation lab and startup incubator. This initiative aims to accelerate developing and implementing cutting-edge, environmentally conscious cooling solutions in the wake of COP28.

In a pioneering collaboration within the subcontinent, the Indian Institute of Technology Jammu (IIT Jammu), the International Finance Corporation (IFC), and Tabreed India, a prominent figure in cooling utilities, have inaugurated an innovation lab and startup incubator. This initiative aims to expedite the advancement and implementation of state-of-the-art, environmentally conscious cooling solutions.

Situated at the IIT Jammu campus and launched post-COP28, the lab is part of IFC’s TechEmerge Sustainable Cooling Innovation program. In conjunction with UK Aid and Tabreed India, this program operates independently and uniquely. Leveraging IFC’s global influence and Tabreed’s extensive deployment of technology-agnostic cooling solutions—such as AI/IOT solutions, nanotechnologies, and solar and renewable energy applications—the lab focuses on various domains like hotels, shopping malls, data centres, cold chains, transport, and more.

This newly established lab is a cutting-edge facility for piloting and validating energy-efficient, financially viable cooling technologies. These innovations aim to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions while providing reusable environments that validate their effectiveness.

Sudheer Perla, Managing Director, Tabreed Asia, said, “Tabreed India is proud to partner with IIT Jammu and further advance the innovation ecosystem in sustainable cooling. This partnership will help meet the fast-growing commercial demand in India and shorten the adoption curve by demonstrating the commercial viability of new sustainable cooling technologies and business models. This will encompass Made-in-India innovations and new solutions from across the world.”

Dr Satya Sekhar Bhogilla, Assistant Professor, IIT Jammu said, “India’s Cooling Action Plan aims to provide sustainable cooling and thermal comfort while securing environmental and socio-economic benefits. In this context, the partnership between IIT Jammu, IFC and Tabreed aims to set up a Cooling Innovation lab (CIL). The CIL provides testbeds for the newly developed heat transfer fluids and control algorithms and focuses on future advanced cooling by harnessing the full potential of renewable energy and water conservation.”

The lab will act as a much-needed catalyst to bridge gaps in the cooling market. The solutions will be subject to rigorous testing and evaluation, and the conducive and controlled environment established -at IIT Jammu will ensure they are market-ready, deployable in a real-world context, and, most importantly, accessible and affordable for large scale adoption.

IFC’s TechEmerge program has already conducted more than 60 sustainable cooling pilots in India and worldwide. The program does this by carefully matching promising innovators worldwide with top local companies in emerging markets and funding field tests and support to bring climate-smart cooling solutions to scale in emerging markets where they are needed most. So far, TechEmerge innovators have raised more than $35 million in financing, while over $2 million in commercial contracts are currently under negotiation.