The Department of Science and Technology has made significant contributions to most of 25 focal sectors of the ‘Make in India’ initiative through various programmes. This has lead to innovative home grown, affordable technologies to help companies manufacture their products in India.  

Equipping Indian Railways with Ultra-modern Technologies

Technology Mission for Indian Railways (TMIR) – an initiative of the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Ministry of Railways (MoR), Ministry of Human Resource Development and Ministry of Industry – will take up research projects to develop state-of-the-art technologies for use in Indian Railways on an investment sharing model.

Advanced Manufacturing Technology (AMT) Programme

DST has supported several projects under a programme to promote development of advance manufacturing technologies in the country. These have been in the areas like design tools and process innovations, modeling & simulation platforms, digital manufacturing, flexible scale manufacturing, additive manufacturing, smart manufacturing, advanced robotics (AR) & industrial internet of things (IIOT), wearable low-power electronics including energy harvesting, sensor networks, etc.

Technical Research Centres

Technical Research Centres (TRCs) have been established in five autonomous institutions of DST namely, SCTIMST, Trivandrum; ARCI, Hyderabad; JNCASR, Bengaluru; IACS, Kolkata and SNBNCBS, Kolkata for technology & product development. The Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology (SCTIMST), Trivandrum developed neuro-prosthetic devices, cardiovascular devices, tissue devices and biological and combinational products.  The International Advanced Research Centre for Powder Metallurgy and New Materials (ARCI), Hyderabad have shown results in technologies for solar energy, energy storage, energy efficiency, energy conversion, electric/hybrid vehicle systems, etc. One Indian patent was granted in 2014 and 25 Indian patent applications are filed till date; one more is in the process of getting filed. One international patent has been granted during 2014-2018. The Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR), Bengaluru is working on 7 technologies filed  15 Indian and PCT applications incubated one start-up ‘Avinir’ which deals with with DNA probes having potential for various applications, including diagnostics. Another start-up, which would deal with development of anti-bacterials for use in paints and surgical instruments, is under incubation. The Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science (IACS), Kolkata and S.N. Bose National Centre for Basic Sciences, Kolkata have taken steps to establish the necessary laboratory facilities for accelerating applied research.

Partnering with MHRD for Uchchatar Avishkar Yojana (UAY)

SERB is partnering with MHRD for UAY projects and funds selected projects. It is enhancing industry-academia interaction, encouraging industry relevant R&D, using the best human resource and infrastructure in academic institutions. The share of SERB funding will be 25%, while MHRD will contribute 50% and industry the remaining 25%.

Collaboration with MHRD in Impacting Research Innovation and Technology (IMPRINT) Project

DST has joined hands with MHRD to implement IMPRINT projects, which addresses major societal and developmental needs such as healthcare, information and communication technology, energy, sustainable habitat, nanotechnology, water resources and river systems, advanced materials, security and defence, and environment and climate.

Twelve projects in different domain areas particularly in nanotechnology and Advanced Materials have been funded by SERB.

The second phase of IMPRINT-2 with a total budget of ` 970.5 crore was launched in March 2018. DST and MHRD is jointly steering this national initiative. SERB is the nodal agency for implementing IMPRINT-2. The initiative expands the catchment of implementing institutions by adopting a more demand- driven strategy of solution development and by incorporates specific externalities of the states of India so as to make end- user translation and technology adoption easier.

To simplify and streamline the process, attract wider participation of stakeholders including industry and sharpen the focus, a new and revised version of IMPRINT, IMPRINT Round 2, has now been envisaged which is being steered jointly by MHRD and DST through SERB. Core mandate of IMPRINT 2 include development of products/processes and viable technologies for addressing the identified challenges in different domains, formulating and developing focused translational projects against identified technology thrust areas, evolving new technology transfer models for enabling technology diffusion to industry and stakeholders, aligning the projects with the needs of various industry sectors and the States of India, in order to achieve end-user translation, facilitating building capability and competence in identified technology thrust areas in the various HEIs and universities, in order to plug the demand-supply gap of human resources in specific areas of need.

Grassroots Innovators spotted & supported by NIF receive Padma Awards796.92 KB