The Indian Institute of Information Technology Dharwad is one of the 20 IIITs proposed under non-profit, Public-Private Partnership model set up by the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD), Government of India. It is an academic and research institute funded by the Government of India, Government of Karnataka and industrial partner Keonics. Recently, the institute has been declared as an Institute of National Importance under the Indian Institutes of Information Technology Public-Private Partnership Act of Parliament (No. 23 of 2017).