Rourkela, July 24: The National Institute of Technology (NIT) Rourkela inaugurated the 1st IEEE International Conference on Instrumentation (INSTCon 2026).

The two-day international conference was jointly organised by the Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering and the Department of Electrical Engineering, under the aegis of the IEEE Instrumentation and Measurement Society (IMS) Rourkela Chapter, in association with the IEEE Rourkela Subsection and IEEE Kolkata Section. The conference is being held on 24–25 July 2026.

The inaugural ceremony was graced by Sudip Pal Choudhury, Executive Director (Projects), Rourkela Steel Plant. Prof. Pradip Sarkar, Director-in-Charge, NIT Rourkela, presided over the programme. Prof. Poonam Singh, Chairperson, IEEE Rourkela Subsection; Prof. Umesh Chandra Pati, General Chair of INSTCon 2026 and Head, Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering; Prof. Pravat Kumar Ray, Head, Department of Electrical Engineering; and Prof. Sougata Kumar Kar and Prof. Saptarshi Chatterjee, Organising Chairs of the conference, along with faculty members, researchers, students, and delegates from India and abroad, also attended the inaugural session.

Welcoming the participants, Prof. Umesh Chandra Pati highlighted that the conference had received 1,630 paper submissions from India and abroad.

Following a rigorous peer-review process, 306 papers were accepted. The conference features seven technical tracks, with 115 papers being presented in physical mode and 60 papers in online mode, along with one plenary lecture, five keynote lectures, four invited talks, and a panel discussion jointly organised by IEEE Women in Engineering (WIE) and the IEEE Special Interest Group on Humanitarian Technology (SIGHT).

Addressing the gathering, Sudip Pal Choudhury emphasised the pivotal role of instrumentation in the era of Industry 4.0 and Industry 5.0, stating that accurate sensing and reliable measurement form the backbone of intelligent systems, artificial intelligence, automation, healthcare, renewable energy, manufacturing, defence, and smart infrastructure.

Drawing from his experience in the steel industry, he highlighted how smart sensors, predictive maintenance, digital twins, machine learning, and real-time analytics are transforming industrial operations and encouraged young researchers to leverage the conference for collaboration and innovation.

In his presidential address, Prof. Pradip Sarkar underscored the growing importance of instrumentation across engineering disciplines and stressed the need to develop indigenous technologies to strengthen India's self-reliance.

He called upon researchers and industry experts to use the conference as a platform for translating research outcomes into commercially viable technologies while enhancing global collaborations and visibility for Indian research.

A major highlight of the inaugural ceremony was the presentation of the INSTCon 2026 Luminary Awards, instituted to recognise eminent academicians for their lifetime contributions to instrumentation and measurement. The conference honoured distinguished experts including Prof. D.Patranabish,Jadavpur University; Prof.Sidharatha Sen, IIT Kharagpur; Prof.SugataMunshi, Jadavpur University;Prof.T. K. Dan, NIT Rourkela;Prof.P. K. Dutta, IIT Kharagpur and Prof. V. Jagadeesh Kumar, IIT Madras for their outstanding contributions to education, research, innovation, and academic leadership in the field.