National Institute of Technology Calicut (NITC) has secured the ninth rank (in the Institute of National Importance category) in the Atal Ranking of Institutions on Innovation Achievements (ARIIA-2021). ARIIA is an initiative launched by the Ministry of Education to rank higher education institutions and universities on indicators related to 'Technology transfer, Innovation, Start-up and Entrepreneurship Development'. 

This year, a total of 1438 institutions had participated in the rankings. The ranking is done in seven categories, including Centrally Funded Technical Institutes, Central University and Institute of National Importance. NITC has also secured the first position among all the NITs in the country.

Innovation and entrepreneurship get major encouragement at NITC with the Technology Business Incubator (TBI-NITC) started on campus. Many students have developed prototypes and won prizes. The incubator was started with the support of the National Science & Technology Entrepreneurship Development Board (NSTEDB) to incubate start-up industries in IT and Electronics. TBI-NITC has extended incubation facilities to 88 start-ups so far.