The session on Conference on Advanced Materials at the digital conference on Rebooting the Economy through Science, Technology and Research Translations’ organised on the occasion of Technology Day on May 11 highlighted that to tackle pandemics like COVID 19 research needs to quickly switch over from being capital intensive to knowledge-intensive and should be brought closer to industry.
The strategy for CSIR is to shift from capital intensity to knowledge intensity of research, and we wish to become knowledge partners of many industries. CSIR has tied up with all the major industries for anti-COVID-19 strategies that we have come out with,” said Dr. Shekhar C Mande, Director General CSIR.
The day-long digital conference which brought together scientists, government officials, academia, and representatives of the industry was organized by Technology Development Board, an autonomous organization of the Department of Science and Technology along with Confederation of Indian Industry.
Speakers at the session agreed that the novel materials such as smart materials, special purpose alloys, engineering polymers & blends, graphene, composites, etc. will be the key to revamping the industry’s product lines in the future.
They spoke on how materials are the cornerstones for new-age technology solutions for complex functional problems. Research workers across the world are engaged in developing novel materials designed with specific properties and engineered to deliver focused functional requirements. Investment in such knowledge-based value-added materials will go a long way in accelerating the economic activities and ensuring an attractive return for the industry, they said.
The other speakers of the session were Dr. Debashish Bhattacharjee, Vice President- New Materials Business Tata Steel, Dr. Nic Gowland, Graphene Engineering Innovation Centre The University of Manchester, Dr. SK Jha, Chairman & Managing Director, Mishra Dhatu Nigam Limited, MIDHANI and Carlos Bernabéu, CEO and founder Arbórea Intellbird, Spain.
The inaugural session of the conference was graced by the dignitaries like Minister of Science and Technology, Health and Family Welfare and Earth Sciences, Dr. Harsh Vardhan, Member, NITI Aayog Dr. V K Saraswat, Secretary, Principal Scientific Adviser Government of India, Prof. K VijayRaghavan, Department of Science & Technology Prof Ashutosh Sharma, Dr. Soumya Swaminathan, Deputy Director-General, World Health Organization, and officials from DST and Technology Development Board (TDB).
