Scale up nanotechnologies

Four hundred technologies were ready to be commercialised in ASEAN countries under the ASEAN-India Innovation Platform (AIIP), said Science & Technology and Earth Sciences Minister, Dr. Harsh Vardhan.

But he has called on the ASEAN-India scientific community to intensify collaborative research in science, technology and innovation to address the economic and societal challenges being faced by the two regions.

Making this call, the minister said: “The time now is for simple solutions for complex problems through innovation.”

Addressing the first India-ASEAN InnoTech Summit in Delhi on 29 Nov 2018, he also called on the scientific community to pool and share technologies through the AIIP.

India, he said, has a lot to offer to the ASEAN countries.

New age technologies were being nurtured at the 38 laboratories of the Council of Scientific & Industrial Research, he said and added that in the global list of 1,207 research institutions supported by government funding, India stood at the 9th position.

“Our mission is to position India into the big league and be recognised among the top three global leaders in Science & Technology,” Dr Vardhan stressed.

The Department of Science & Technology (DST) Secretary, Prof. Ashutosh Sharma, said that Science and Technology was a new dimension to the strong India-ASEAN cultural bonds and complementary economic and political systems.

“The need of the hour was to scale up collaborations in nanotechnology, advanced materials and biotechnology,” he pointed out.

Prof. Sharma added that the AIIP was a major element of the enhanced the ASEAN-India S&T Development Fund (AISTDF), which is a part of ASEAN-India Science & Technology Collaboration.

The AIIP comprises social innovations, product and processes innovation generated by industry and research innovations from the academia and R&D labs.

He called upon innovators in ASEAN countries to explore the numerous opportunities available in India and build partnerships for the common good of the people in the two regions.

Moe Kyaw Aung, Ambassador of Myanmar to India, said that the time was ripe to share the best ideas and build powerful networks between the scientific community of ASEAN and India.

He called for creating sustainable national and international innotech projects to build a continuous and dynamic science revolution.

The summit was organised by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, the DST and the Ministry of External Affairs. It was held 29-30 Nov 2018. fiinews.com