The institute was approved by The Planning Commission in New Delhi in July 2006 and land was provided by The Punjab State government.

[4] The foundation stone of IISER Mohali was laid on 27 September 2006 by the former Prime Minister of India, Manmohan Singh.

[5] The Computing Facility of IISER Mohali was inaugurated on 3 September 2007 by T. Ramasami (Secretary, Department of Science and Technology).

[6] The Earth-breaking ceremony for IISER boundary wall was held on 29 December 2008 at the proposed campus site in Knowledge City, Sector 81, S.A.S.

A large number of schools send teams for inter-school competitions such as science quizzes, group discussions, treasure hunt, junkyard wars, poster presentation held on this day.

The day usually ends with a 'panel discussion' in which the school students ask science-related questions to a panel of faculty members of IISER Mohali.