11-Mar-2019: PM Modi, Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina, jointly unveil e-plaques for development projects in Bangladesh, via video conference

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, jointly unveiled e-plaques for development projects in Bangladesh, through video conference. Both leaders unveiled e-plaques for supply of buses and trucks, inauguration of 36 community clinics, 11 water treatment plants, and extension of National Knowledge Network to Bangladesh.

Speaking on the occasion, the Prime Minister noted that this is his sixth video conference with Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. He said that PM Sheikh Hasina’s vision is the biggest inspiration for stronger connectivity between India and Bangladesh. He said today’s unveilings will boost not just transport connectivity, but also knowledge connectivity. He said the National Knowledge Network will connect scholars and research institutes in Bangladesh, to India and the world. He said the buses and trucks would assist the efforts towards affordable public transportation; water treatment plants will help supply clean water; and community clinics will benefit about 2 lakh people, in Bangladesh. He said these projects show that India-Bangladesh relations are playing a key role in improving the quality of life of people.

3-Jan-2018: India excludes Pakistan from a SAARC initiative

India has excluded Pakistan from the list of SAARC member countries with which it will be connecting its state-of-the art National Knowledge Network (NKN) for sharing scientific databases and remote access to advanced research facilities.

The government has kicked off the process of appointing a telecom company that will connect and extend the NKN to research and education networks in six South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation member states — Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka. Pakistan is the only SAARC nation that has been left out of this initiative.

India has for long suspended official talks with Pakistan due to continuing terrorist attacks launched by groups from across the border and chill in the relations is now evident in sphere of research cooperation too.

NKN is a multi-gigabit pan-India network which facilitates the development of India’s communications infrastructure, stimulates research and creates next generation applications and services. It enables collaboration among researchers from different educational networks such as TEIN4, GARUDA, CERN and Internet2. It also enables sharing of scientific databases and remote access to advanced research facilities.

India has now decided to extend the NKN to the global research and education networks in SAARC nations. NKN will be connected from Afghanistan to Delhi or Mumbai, from Bangladesh to Kolkata or Delhi, from Bhutan to Kolkata or Delhi, from Nepal to Kolkata or Delhi, from Maldives to Chennai or Mumbai and from Sri Lanka to Chennai or Mumbai.

A state-of-the-art management centre and Network Operations Centre will also be set up to run the NKN network. The connection from Afghanistan, Maldives and Sri Lanka to India would be through a submarine cable for international connectivity.

With its multi-gigabit capability, NKN aims to connect all universities, research institutions, libraries, laboratories, healthcare and agricultural institutions across the country to address such paradigm shift. The leading mission oriented agencies in the fields of nuclear, space and defence research are also part of NKN. To strengthen research facility in various critical and emerging areas for NKN community, the network has established its international points of presence or PoP in Geneva, Amsterdam and Singapore, and plans to soon establish a PoP in New York too.

23-Feb-2022: 25 Technology Innovation Hubs across the country through NM-ICPS are boosting new and emerging technologies to power national initiatives

The 25 Technology Innovation Hubs (TIH) set up across the country through the National Mission on Interdisciplinary Cyber-Physical Systems (NM-ICPS) are boosting new and emerging technologies to power national initiatives in key areas. They are bringing out several technological solutions for people-centric problems. Several technologies and technology platforms established under the mission have helped push impact in multiple sectors.

A total of 496 technological products, including 46 new technologies, have been developed through these TIHs. They include the first-of-its-kind Internet of Things (IoT) device that monitors ambient temperature during the transportation of vaccines, including Covid-19, medicines, blood samples, food and dairy products, meat products, and animal semen developed by researchers at the IIT Ropar Technology Innovation Hub - AWaDH and its startup ScratchNest. Besides, a team of scientists from IIT Bombay has developed tapestry method for screening COVID-19 under Remedial Action, Knowledge Skimming, and Holistic Analysis of COVID-19 (RAKSHAK), an effort supported by the Technology Innovation Hub (TIH) at IIT Jodhpur.

An AI-driven platform that helped Chest X-ray interpretation of images sent over WhatsApp was developed by ARTPARK at IISc Bangalore. It brought early intervention through rapid screening of COVID 19, aiding doctors who have no access to X-ray machines.

A consortium launched by IITM Pravartak Technologies Foundation and five other entrepreneurial start-up companies in the deep tech and engineering domain have been established Under the mission I-STAC.DB - Indian Space Technologies and Applications Consortium Design Bureau.

The TIHs have also led to the establishment of 13 Technology Business Incubator (TBI), 54 Start-ups & Spin-off companies, and the creation of around 928 jobs. 2024 Human Resource Development activities, including 1083 Skill Development programmes, have been conducted, and 32 International Collaborations started. The initiative has also given rise to 191 Publications, IPR, and other intellectual activities, as well as 1073 Entrepreneurship Development activities.

NM-ICPS, which fosters technological solutions in health, education, energy, environment, agriculture, strategy cum security, Industry 4.0 is being implemented through 25 Technology Innovation Hubs (TIHs) established in top academic, and National R&D Institutes was approved at by the Union Cabinet at a total cost of Rs 3660 crores in December 2018. All the hubs are working on developing solutions for people-centric problems.

The hubs include the following:

  • AI4ICPS I-Hub Foundation (TIH) at IIT Kharagpur working in the area of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning.
  • TIH Foundation for IoT and IoE at IIT Bombay, working in the area of Technologies for Internet of Things & Internet of Everything.
  • IIIT-H Data I-Hub Foundation at IIIT Hyderabad, working in the area of Data Banks & Data Services, Data Analysis.
  • I-HUB for Robotics and Autonomous Systems Innovation Foundation at IISc Bangalore, working in the area of Robotics & Autonomous Systems.
  • IHUB NTIHAC Foundation at IIT Kanpur, working in the area of Cyber Security and Cyber Security for Physical Infrastructure.
  • IHUB Drishti Foundation at IIT Jodhpur, working in the area of Computer Vision, Augmented and virtual reality.
  • Divyasampark IHUB Roorkee for Devices Materials and Technology Foundation at IIT Roorkee, working in the area of Device Technology and Materials.
  • IIT Patna Vishlesan I-hub Foundation at IIT Patna, working in the area of Speech, Video & Text Analytics.
  • IIT Madras Pravartak Technologies Foundation at IIT Madras, working in the area of Sensors, Networking, Actuator  & controls.
  • NMICPS Technology Innovation Hub on Autonomous Navigation Foundation (TiHAN) at IIT Hyderabad working in the area of Autonomous Navigation and Data Acquisition systems(UAV, RoVetc).
  • I-DAPT-HUB Foundation at IIT BHU, working in the area of Data Analytics & Predictive Technologies.
  • IIT Guwahati Technology Innovation and Development Foundation at IIT Guwahati, working in the area of Technologies for Underwater exploration.
  • IIT Mandi I-Hub and HCI Foundation at IIT Mandi, working in the area of Human-Computer Interaction.
  • I-Hub Foundation for Cobotics (IHFC) at IIT Delhi, working in the area of Cobotics.
  • IIT Ropar Technology and Innovation Foundation at IIT Ropar, working in the area of Technologies for Agriculture & Water.
  • Technology Innovation in Exploration & Mining Foundation at IIT (ISM) Dhanbad, working in the area of Technologies for Mining.
  • IIT Palakkad Technology I-Hub Foundation, working in the area of Intelligent Collaborative Systems.
  • IIITB Comet Foundation at IIIT Bangalore, working in the area of Advanced Communication System, BITS BioCYTiH Foundation at BITS Pilani, working in the area of Bio-CPS
  • IDEAS- Institute of Data Engineering, Analytics and Science Foundation at ISI Kolkata, working in the area of Data Science, Big Data Analytics and Data curation, etc.
  • IITI Drishti CPS Foundation at IIT Indore, working in the area of System Simulation, Modelling & Visualization.
  • IHUB Anubhuti-IIITD Foundation at IIIT Delhi, working in the area of Cognitive Computing & Social Censing.
  • I-Hub Quantum Technology Foundation at IISER Pune, working in the area of Quantum Technologies.
  • IIT Tirupati Navavishkar I-Hub Foundation at IIT Tirupati, working in the area of Positioning and Precision Technologies.
  • IIT Bhilai Innovation and Technology Foundation at IIT Bhilai, working in the area of Technologies for financial sector (Fintech).

6-Oct-2018: Cabinet approves launch of National Mission on Interdisciplinary Cyber-Physical Systems.

The Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi today has approved the launching of National Mission on Interdisciplinary Cyber-Physical Systems (NM-ICPS) to be implemented by Department of Science &Technology at a total outlay of Rs. 3660 crore for a period of five years.

Details:

The Mission addresses the ever increasing technological requirements of the society, and takes into account the international trends and road maps of leading countries for the next generation technologies. The mission implementation would develop and bring:

  1. Cyber Physical Systems (CPS) and associated technologies within reach in the country,
  2. adoption of CPS technologies to address India specific National / Regional issues,
  3. produce Next Generation skilled manpower in CPS,
  4. catalyze Translational Research,
  5. accelerate entrepreneurship and start-up ecosystem development in CPS,
  6. give impetus to advanced research in CPS, Technology development and higher education in Science, Technology and Engineering disciplines, and
  7. place India at par with other advanced countries and derive several direct and indirect benefits.

Implementation strategy: The NM-ICPS is a comprehensive Mission which would address technology development, application development, human resource development & skill enhancement, entrepreneurship and start-up development in CPS and associated technologies. The Mission aims at establishment of 15 numbers of Technology Innovation Hubs (TIH), six numbers of Application Innovation Hubs (AIH) and four numbers of Technology Translation Research Parks (TTRP). These Hubs & TTRPs will connect to Academics, Industry, Central Ministries and State Government in developing solutions at reputed academic, R&D and other organizations across the country in a hub and spoke model. A strategic approach involving a suitable mix of Academic, Industry and Government is proposed to be adopted. Strong Steering and Monitoring Mechanisms in the form of Mission Governing Board (MGB), Inter-Ministerial Coordination Committee (IMCC), Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC) and other Sub-Committees will guide and monitor the Mission implementation. The Hubs & TTRPs have four focused areas along which the Mission implementation would proceed, namely (i) Technology Development; (ii) HRD & Skill Development; (iii) Innovation, Entrepreneurship & Start-ups Ecosystem Development; (iv) International Collaborations.

Impact: CPS technologies provide a cutting edge to a Nation's scientific, engineering, and technological innovative capabilities; support other missions of the government, provide industrial and economic competitiveness and have truly became a Strategic Resource. Volume, scale and complexity of emerging applications demand continued evolution of new technologies for the foreseeable future. The proposed Mission would act as an engine of growth that would benefit national initiatives in health, education, energy, environment, agriculture, strategic cum security, and industrial sectors, Industry 4.0, SMART Cities, Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) etc. CPS is an integrated system of upcoming technology, which in turn is being taken up on priority basis by countries in the race for development. CPS will indeed bring a paradigm shift in entire skill sets requirement. The job opportunities will be enhanced through the Mission by imparting advanced skills and generating skilled manpower as per the requirement of the industry/ society. As Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Start-up Ecosystem is an integral part of the proposed NM-ICPS, the start-ups will also create a number of technology driven job opportunities in CPS and allied areas. Accordingly, it is estimated that, about 40,000 jobs will be created in the short term and about 2,00,000 in long term.

Benefits: The Mission will feed the Central Ministries/ Departments and State Govts and also the Industry to effectively use the CPS technologies in their projects and schemes for the benefit of the society.

States/districts covered: NM-ICPS is a Pan India Mission and covers entire gamut of India that includes Central Ministries, State Governments, Industry and Academia.

Background: CPS and its associated technologies, like Artificial Intelligence (Al), Internet of Things (IoT), Machine Learning (ML),  Deep Learning (DP),  Big Data Analytics,  Robotics, Quantum Computing, Quantum Communication, Quantum encryption (Quantum Key Distribution), Data Science & Predictive analytics, Cyber Security for physical infrastructure and other infrastructure, have pervaded and is playing a transformative role in almost every field of human endeavour all most in all sectors. It has become imperative for government and industries to be prepared to adopt these emerging and disruptive technologies in order to remain competitive, drive societal progress, generate employment, foster economic growth and to improve the overall quality of life and sustainability of the environment.

12-Jul-2023: India and the United States today jointly launched a call for proposals on Critical and Emerging Technology: Quantum Technologies and Artificial Intelligence for Transforming Lives

Dr Jitendra Singh and the United States, represented by its Ambassador to India, Eric Garcetti, jointly launched the call for collaborative proposals on "Critical and Emerging Technology: Quantum Technologies and Artificial Intelligence for Transforming Lives". The Indo-U.S. Science and Technology Forum (IUSSTF) and the Secretariat for USISTEF have designed the program.

Dr Jitendra Singh said, the move comes in the wake of PM Modi’s US visit, where he stressed upon a new chapter to bilateral comprehensive and global strategic partnership. The Minister said, he felt happy that both the Indian and US sides have positioned themselves quickly to carry forward the decision of the leaders to the implementation level.

  1. National Supercomputing Mission
  2. New, Emerging and Strategic Technologies (NEST) division
  3. Paramarsh Scheme
  4. Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH) programme
  5. Programme DHRUV
  6. Protecting IP Intensive Industries