A research powerhouse; nurturing small-start-ups; a catalyst for entrepreneurial boom; a place for collaborative research with the world's top 10 universities — these were some of the several goals former president A P J Abdul Kalam set for the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay while inaugurating its golden jubilee celebrations on Wednesday.

“IIT-Bombay can deliberate on the suggestions I have given to be considered while it envisages a vision for the next two decades,” he said. Starting now, the golden jubilee celebrations will continue till March 2009 and will be used “as an opportunity to launch major new initiatives, celebrate successes of the past years and reflect on the past and plan for the future”. Anil Kakodkar, chairman of the board of governors, said: “Per capita GDP should be directly proportional to the number of PhDs the country produces to enhance the output of higher education and IIT-Bombay is proceeding in that path.”

Endorsing the view, Kalam said: “When I asked Prof Misra what the core competency of IIT-Bombay was, he said it was research-teaching-research. This implies that good teaching comes out of good research and IIT-Bombay has the potential to deliver new inventions and discoveries.” The institute also felicitated former directors A K De and S P Sukhatm and former chairmen of the board of governors Homi Sethna, D V Kapur, R Chidambaram, M G K Menon and Rahul Bajaj.

But the final words of wisdom “for the young minds only” came from Kalam who read out an “oath” of courage: “courage to think different, courage to travel into an unexplored path, courage to discover the impossible, courage to combat problem and as the youth of the nation, I will work with courage to achieve success in all missions.”