EIGHT MORE CENTRES OF EXCELLENCE
IN THE OFFING
Eight more Centres
of Relevance and Excellence (COREs) are in the offing. The Technology
Information Forecasting and Assessment Council (TIFAC) of the
Department of Science and Technology has already established 17
COREs, under its Mission-REACH i.e. Relevance and Excellence in
Achieving new heights in Educational Institutions in the country.
These centres cover critical areas of science and technology which
are of immense importance to industry. This information was given
by the Chairman of TIFAC Dr. R. Chidambaram, who is also the Principal
Scientific Adviser to the Government of India, while opening a
two-day meeting Mission-REACH, here today. It is being attended
by captains of Industry, Scientists, technologists and representatives
from the Academia. The meeting on Industry-Academia interaction
will discuss the kind of technologies and the areas in which they
are needed.
Underscoring the
initiatives to set-up 100 such centres of Excellence in critical
areas, Dr. Chidambaram said, synergising science and technology
efforts will alone spur national development and help achieve
a growth rate of 8 per cent as desired by the Prime Minister.
For this, the industry's share in R&D must increase steeply.
In India most of the R&D finding comes from the government,
but this situation must change and industry must become an equal
partner in its own interest.
However, Dr. Chidambaram
later said the situation is changing and the Industry is now realising
the importance of funding research. The climate for industry-academia
interaction is now more favourable and that import of technology
has begun to show a declining trend. Laying emphasis on quality
education, he said, fifty major Industries have been approached
for this interaction to develop the kind of technologies needed
by them for boosting industrial production. Funding Academia programmes
of applied research in critical areas must become an essential
component of Industry, Dr. Chidambaram added.
The Secretary Department
of Science and Technology Prof. V.S. Ramamurthy urged the Industry
to come out with new ideas and initiatives to strengthen the partnership.
He said successful implementation of Mission-REACH will help in
providing the kind of Human Resource for fostering technology
development.
