By Our Staff Reporter
Dehradun, 23 Dec: The 6th India International Science Festival (IISF-2020) is being celebrated to promote Science & Technology through virtual platform this year. IISF is an event organised jointly by DST, DBT, MoEF, MoHWF and CSIR from the Government of India and Vijnana Bharti (VIBHA). It was inaugurated by Prime minister of India on 22 December.
CSIR-Indian Institute of Petroleum (CSIR-IIP), Dehradun, along with Vigyan Bharti is organising the virtual “Industry Academia Conclave (IAC) as a part of IISF2020 during 22-24 December. Day-2 of the event started with the Theme-1 – Improving Mutual Understanding between Industry and Academia. Dr Manoj Shrivastava, Principal Coordinator, IAC-IISF 2020 welcomed the guests, panel members and participants. A message from Dr Harsh Vardhan, Union Minister of Science and Technology, was displayed via video. He stated that IAC will strengthen the relationship between Academia and industry and boost job creation in the country.
A Special Address by Dr Anjan Ray, Director CSIR-Indian Institute of Petroleum, followed, focusing on waste utilisation in the country and self reliant India. He hoped that the Industry Academia Meet would produce a road map for the future and there would be success stories, next year, to relate at the meet.
Keynote Speaker Dr. Bala Bharadvaj, MD, Boeing India Engineering & Technology Centre, said that, apart from science and engineering, other soft skills should be given importance. He added that technology must work on the user environment and be scalable and reliable.
The panel discussion started with Dr Rakesh Vir Jasra, FNAE Senior Vice President – Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) emphasising on targeting product according to industry demand. He also discussed commercialisation of products, stating that the industries always pick the quick solution.
Dr Durgesh Pant, Professor – Uttarakhand Open University, emphasised that skill development should be included in school level, higher education, and industry. He also said that eco-clubs should be started among school children to promote soft skills.
Dr KK Pant, Professor, University of Saskatchewan, mentioned that Industry is always interested on taking readymade products. Academia usually works on lower TRL level by using basic facilities and infrastructure. There is need for collaboration with industry and other established national labs to achieve higher TRL level.
Dr Banibrata Pandey, PETIVA, said there is need for long interaction between Industry and Academia. Students should go to the Industry during study and work on the projects under the industrial environment.
Swapan Kumar Mukerji, Vice President & Head Innovation Think Tank, L&T Hydrocarbon Engineering, mentioned the symbiotic relationship between components of Industry and Academia.
There was interaction between the Panel and the Audience. Dr Manoj Shrivastava concluded the session and the Vote of Thanks was proposed by Jayati Trivedi.
