28-Nov-2020: GITA is a catalyst for nurturing innovation & industrial R&D by fostering bilateral academic-industry & government collaborations

Dr. Harsh Vardhan, Union Minister of Science & Technology, Health and Family Welfare and Earth Sciences, Govt. of India, has underlined how Global Innovation and Technology Alliance (GITA) served as a catalyst for nurturing innovation and industrial R&D by fostering bilateral academic industry and government collaborations, through a video message at celebration of the 9th Foundation Day of GITA.

“DST through GITA has been able to successfully engage in implementation of bilateral industrial R&D projects in collaboration with some of the most innovative nations of the world such as Israel, Korea, Canada, Finland, Italy, Spain, and UK,” Dr. Harsh Vardhan pointed out at the inauguration of celebration event on digital mode.

Global Innovation and Technology Alliance (GITA); (PPP between Technology Development Board (TDB) of the Department of Science & Technology (DST) and Confederation of Indian Industry) celebrated its 9th Foundation Day with the theme ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat’ (Self-Reliant India) recently on CII Hive platform. The daylong event was a multi-stakeholder platform to exchange ideas.

“Under Prime Minister’s clarion call to utilise this challenging time as an opportunity for India to become self-reliant, the S&T ministry is at the forefront of nurturing the cultivation and blossoming of the scientific temperament in the country for Aatmanirbhar Bharat,” the Union Minister added.

“GITA, with its clear mandate to stimulate industry investment in R&D and its demonstration to deliver commercialised products and services, is well poised to further the government’s vision of creating a self-reliant Nation, with the collective intervention motivation and strategy of all those present,” he explained.

Prof. Ashutosh Sharma, Secretary, Department of Science & Technology (DST), Govt. of India and the Guest of Honour pointed out the great changes that have happened over the years like scaling up of operations, increased collaborations with countries like Israel, Canada, Sweden, Korea, Italy and Finland and expanding potential.

“Aatmanirbhar Bharat is not by exclusion; it is to bring in more inclusion to be a part of the global R&D supply chain and deliver globally. It is an integration of our strengths with everything that is global,” Professor Sharma stressed.

Professor Sharma highlighted the three cultural elements of Aatmanirbharta as ‘Aatma-Vishwas, Aatma-Samman, and Aatma-Chintan and said that everyone who works towards Aatmanirbharta should remember them at critical points.

“DST has been focusing on development of indigenous technologies that are new and relevant to India and globally and facilitating novelty in innovation from India. We need to integrate the complete knowledge chain in order to understand how science & technology can help achieve a self-reliant India. GITA would continue to play a bigger and better role in all these opportunities,” added Prof. Sharma.

Dr Neeraj Sharma, Secretary, Technology Development Board (TDB), said that in the times to come, he wishes for expanding the space of collaboration between TDB and GITA.

Three successful projects completed this year as a result of collaboration with the International partner countries were also felicitated during the event. The projects ranged from areas including ‘Design and Manufacturing of Artificial Intelligence-based Electronic Metering & Monitoring System for Indian Power Distribution Sector’, ‘Development of pearl millet hybrid seeds and novel food products like an affordable resource for prevention of Type 2 diabetes,’ to ’Design and Development of Advanced Power Electronic and Related Technologies for Integration of Solar Power plants with power Utility Grids.’

Mr. Piyush Srivastava Additional Development Commissioner, Ministry of Ministry of Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises, Dr. SK Varshney Head International Cooperation, Department of Science and Technology Mr. Deep Kapuria First Member of GITA Board & Chairman, The Hi-Tech Group of Companies, also attended the celebrations.

1-Nov-2020: VAIBHAV Summit: A Unique Confluence of Resident and Overseas Indian Scientists/Academicians concludes successfully

The Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi inaugurated the Vaishwik Bharatiya Vaigyanik (VAIBHAV) Summit, a global virtual summit of overseas and resident Indian researchers and Academicians on Gandhi Jayanti, 02ndOctober 2020 which concluded yesterday . About 2600  overseas Indians registered for the summit online. About 3200 panelists and about 22,500 academicians and scientists from India and overseas participated in this month-long series of webinars. The deliberations started on 3rd of October and concluded on the occasion of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Jayanti, 31stOctober 2020. About 722 hours of discussions under various verticals were organised by champion institutes from 3rd to 25th Oct and the outcomes were reviewed by the Advisory council chaired by Dr VK Saraswat, Member NITI Aayog and Prof K Vijay Raghavan, Principal Scientific Advisor to the Government of India, from 28th Oct to 31st Oct,2020. Secretaries from various S&T departments and other ministries are members of this council including  CSIR, DST, DRDO,ICAR, DOS, DAE, DBT, Health, Pharma, MEA, MoES, MeitY, MoE and ICMR. The champion institutes received critical feedback from the participants.

VAIBHAV and Aatmanirbhar Bharat: VAIBHAV has led the way in establishing research capability as an important avenue towards Aatmanirbhar Bharat. It has paved the way for aligning contemporary research in the country towards a shared purpose in each area. Resident and overseas Indians have given an integrated perspective of research and academic capabilities to seamlessly contribute to India’s S&T capability for global good. VAIBHAV has created an interactive and facile mechanism  in the Cyberspace, and has promoted collaboration and the development of leadership. It is a grand initiative in the area of science and research not just for academic institutes but also for public funded R&D organizations and Industry that utilizes the outcome of research.

VAIBHAV:A wide spectrum of deliberations : VAIBHAV deliberations were held under a structured framework of many areas and subjects. This summit had many firsts in the history of academic and scientific conferences. The key highlights are

• 18 Verticals (Areas)
• 80 Horizontals (Subjects)
• 230 Panel Discussion Sessions
• 23 Days of Panel Deliberations
• 3169Panelists
• 22500 Attendees
• 722 Hours of Formal Deliberations

Among panelists, 45% were overseas Indians and 55% were resident Indian academicians and scientists. In addition, about 200 hours of preparatory and practice deliberations were held before the formal panel meets. Overall Indian diaspora from 71 countries participated in this summit. This is one of its kind  initiative in the country, where such a mammoth scale of scientific discussions was undertaken on wide range of topics. In terms of participation, coverage of areas, intensity of discussions, number of hours spent on discussions, number of countries and quality of participants, this summit has created a benchmark in itself.

The Summit intended to “create an ideal research ecosystem, merging tradition with modernity to create prosperity”. The discussions were held on computational sciences, electronics & communication, quantum technologies, photonics, aerospace technologies, health and medical sciences, pharma and biotechnology, agro-economy and food security, material & processing technologies, advanced manufacturing, earth sciences, energy, environmental sciences, management and social sciences.

VAIBHAV: New Collaborations in Emerging Areas -Certain areas of collaboration have emerged which were not stressed in the past, such as bioremediation, urban ore recycling and metal organics. Experts  debated on the future electricity grids, interactive but islandable microgrids and related technologies key to electrification in India and maintaining resilience. At one time-zone in the cyberspace, a session was discussing the importance of assembly packaging various functionality over a single chip, while at the another time-zone technical ideas with respect to trapped ions and atomic clock were being proposed. To name just a few, wafer level packaging, 3D integration for MEMS, Heterogeneous integration of 2D materials on Silicon platform, Full Mission Mode Engine Cycle Analysis, Aero Elastic Analysis of Fan, Hot Turbine Blade Cooling Technology, Membrane separation for purification of elements, Ge purification for detector application, Highly doped Ge for THz and Mid IR frequencies are some of the areas of collaborations are identified.

VAIBHAV –RESPOSE & WAY FORWARD: While a panelist described Vaibhav to be ‘encouraging grounded scientists and academicians’, an organizing institute measured it by saying. It was a ‘historical and mammoth exercise without flashy names’. On the sidelines of the summit, resident researchers are discussing with their international collaborators to take forward indigenous technologies to maturation. A panel was of the view that “directed research support, regulatory requirement for industries to identify future technical trajectories, and incentives to promote academia-industry collaboration” are key mechanisms for enabling research collaboration and commercialization.

The summit has proposed a comprehensive roadmap leveraging the expertise and knowledge of global Indian researchers for addressing emerging challenges for universal development. The Summit documentation and recommendations will be submitted formally to the advisory council for further directions. The summit reflected upon new avenues of research, strengthening of areas of research ecosystem, collaboration possibilities and cooperation instruments with academia/scientists in India and abroad. The goal is to create a broader ecosystem of knowledge and innovation in the country through global interactions, for India and the world.