NEW YORK: The Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai and Noida-based Amity University are among 15 institutions worldwide that have submitted bids to the city of New York to set up a science and engineering campus here under a plan by Mayor Michael Bloomberg to drive local economic growth and create jobs.

The city received seven proposals from a total of 17 institutions.

Name of the institute selected to set up the engineering and applied sciences campus would be announced in January after an extensive selection process that will choose a project which generates the greatest benefit to the city and its taxpayers, Bloomberg said in a news conference here.

Earlier some of the media channels of New York city were saying that Cornell and Stanford Universitis are the front-runners in the competition but the Mayor discarded all that by saying "it would really be a great opportunity if various Universities had a chance to build a campus in the New York city. The Bloomberg also said that all the Universities of this competition are stronger and their proposals are very attractive.

The winner of the 'Applied Sciences NYC' initiative will get incentives like free city land and as much as USD 100 million in capital for the project.

IIT Mumbai is part of a consortium that includes New York University, University of Toronto, UK's University of Warwick, City University of New York and Carnegie Mellon. All these universities are submitted proposals in Downtown, Brooklyn.

The consortium is proposing to set up a centre for urban science and research in downtown Brooklyn for more than 500 graduate students.

Amity University addition with Stanford and Cornell universities have submitted a proposal to set up a campus in Governor's Island near here. Cornell University said that approximately 30 years ould take to complete his proposals.

The other institutes that responded to the Applied Sciences 'Request for Proposals' include Steiner Studios, Columbia University, Cornell University, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, New York Genome Center, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, Rockefeller University, SUNY Stony Brook and Stanford University. New York Genome Center, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, Rockefeller University, SUNY Stony Brook submitted the proposals for a campus in miltown Manhattan. Carnegie mellon Universities and Steiner studios submitted a proposals for brooklyn Navy yard. And columbia university submitted a proposal to build a techno campus.

"Universities are always a major magnet for talent - and the world's most dynamic companies always gravitate to places where they can find the best and the brightest," Bloomberg said.

"Along with everything we are doing to diversify and strengthen our economy, a new applied sciences campus has the potential to be a real economic game changer that will create jobs immediately, and for generations," he added.

Bloomberg had in July this year invited proposals from universities, institutions and consortiums to develop and operate a "new or expanded state-of-the-art" campus in the city dedicated to engineering and the applied sciences.

The proposals submitted contain plans for new facilities ranging from 400,000 square feet to over two million square feet.

The institutions propose private investments of more than $800 million in the first phases of their projects and this could be increased to $2.5 billion over the long-term.