This programme was launched as a follow-up of the budget announcement made by the Hon’ble Finance Minister of India in his Budget Speech in FY 2014-15. Five Technical Research Centres (TRCs) were established with a mission to provide techno-legal-commercial and financial support to scientists, entrepreneurs, and business fraternity to achieve translation of research into products and processes for greater economic and societal benefits in 5 DST institutions at a total cost of Rs.467.00 Crores.

The  following Technical Research Centres (TRCs) are established in the DST institutions during FY 2015-16:

1.   SreeChitraTirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology (SCTIMST), Trivandrum

2.   International Advanced Research Centre for Powder Metallurgy and New Materials (ARCI), Hyderabad

3.   Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR), Bengaluru

4.   Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science (IACS), Kolkata

5.   S.N. Bose National Centre for Basic Sciences, Kolkata.

The TRC programme is translating scientific discoveries and technological inventions into products and services of societal and industrial relevance. TRCs have been instrumental in building R&D translation ecosystem by supporting advancements in technology readiness levels of background R&D capabilities and intellectual properties, streamlining multi-stakeholder involvement (including industry-academia partnerships), technology out-licensing, setting-up platforms for start-ups, and strengthening state-of-the-art R&D infrastructure. Around a dozen of technologies have been transferred to the industries and many of them are at different stages of developments for transfer to the industries. The first phase (5 years) of the above programme has already been completed and it is proposed to continue the programme for another 5 years i.e. second phase.