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Science Ministries boosting ‘Make in India’ Mission

Department of Science & Technology (DST)

The science ministries have made significant contributions to most of 25 focal sectors of the ‘Make in India’ initiative through various programs. This has lead to innovative, home grown, affordable technologies to help companies manufacture their products in India.  

Supercomputer assembled in India to be installed shortly-- The supercomputer developed under National Supercomputing Mission - Build Approach – will be shortly installed 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) Program

DST has supported several projects under a program 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 has 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 Rs 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.

Department of Biotechnology (DBT)

Innovate in India (I3) program for affordable healthcare

In a bid to create a globally competitive bio-pharmaceutical industry that addresses the country’s major concerns around barriers to affordable healthcare, DBT launched the Innovate in India (I3) program, with a funding to the tune of USD 250 million. This flagship program is being implemented by the Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC), a Public-Sector Enterprise set up by DBT. Till now, BIRAC has supported hundreds of start-ups, SMEs and young entrepreneurs for innovation through its various programs, like BIG, SBIRI, BIPP, CRS and SPARSH.

Country’s 1st 2G Ethanol plant technology developed and transferred to BPCL & HPCL

The country’s first Second-Generation (2G) Ethanol plant was formally inaugurated and subsequently transferred to Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd. (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd. (HPCL) to build commercial scale biomass ethanol plants based on the home grown technology developed under a project of the Ministry. While the time taken to convert biomass to biofuel is about 4 to 7 days with other prevalent technologies, the one developed by the team at DBT-ICT does the same in about 18-20 hours, and produces about 300 litres of ethanol per ton of biomass.

Bio-toilet & Bioremediation technologies developed

  • Bioremediation of filthy water – DBT supported development of technologies to remove organic waste from municipal waste water and for treatment of waste water from various industries such as mining and distilleries, and production of biogas and bio-fertilizer from domestic and municipal solid waste, and landfill leachate.
  • Bio-toilet technologies – In collaboration with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), DBT/BIRAC supported various novel bio-toilet technologies through ‘Reinvent the Toilet Challenge for India (RTTC)’ program. Six new bio-toilet technologies have so far been supported and different aspects of waste collection and management process addressed. Several bio-toilets will be setup in schools of North Eastern states.

Biotech companies, startups, products and IP developed with BIRAC support

BIRAC has been able to create a pan-India presence supporting over 700 biotech companies, research institutes, and small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs), which includes 500 start-ups and entrepreneurs. 147 Intellectual Property Rights (IPs) have been generated with the support of BIRAC. In addition, 30 bio-incubators are supported across India and around 70 products are being commercialized.

Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR)

Technologies developed for strategic Sector

  • Drishti Systems: Drishti transmissometer, a visibility measuring system provides information to pilots on visibility for safe landing and take-off operations and is suitable for all airport categories.
  • Head-Up-Display (HUD) In high-tech areas, CSIR-NAL made significant contribution by developing indigenous Head-Up- display (HUD) for Indian Light Combat Aircraft, Tejas. HUD aids the pilot in flying the aircraft and in critical flight maneuvers including weapon aiming.   
  • Design and Development of Indigenous Gyrotron: Addressing the challenges of technology denial: Design and development of indigenous gyrotron for nuclear fusion reactor has been accomplished.

Several technologies generated for a sustainable future

  • Solar Tree: A solar tree is designed by CSIR-CMERI lab in Durgapur which occupies minimum space to produce clean power.
  • Wax Deoiling Technology: Technology developed for recovery of wax developed in collaboration with Engineers India Limited (EIL) and Numaligarh Refinery Ltd., (NRL). Country's largest wax producing (50,000 metric ton) plant has been commissioned at NRL with investment of over Rs 600 crore.
  • Simultaneous Production of US Grade Gasoline and Pure Benzene: Technology for producing US grade gasoline and pure benzene has been developed. Plant of 700,000 tonnes per annum capacity costing Rs 160 crore was commissioned at Reliance Jamnagar Refinery.
  • Lithium Ion Battery: India’s first lithium ion battery fabrication facility based on indigenous novel materials for making 4.0 V/14 h standard cells has been established. The so developed technology on the Li-ion batteries to be commercialized soon.

Technologies developed for enabling prevention, diagnosis and cure of diseases

  • JD Vaccine for Farm Animals: Vaccine developed and commercialized for Johne’s disease affecting Sheep, Goat, Cow and Buffalo so as to immunize them and increase milk and meat production.
  • Plasma Gelsolin Diagnostic Kit for Premature Births, and Sepsis related Deaths: A new kit is being developed to diagnose pre-mature birth and sepsis.
  • Genomics and other omics technologies for Enabling Medical Decision (GOMED): A program, named GOMED (Genomics and other omics technologies for Enabling Medical Decision) has been developed by the CSIR which provides a platform of disease genomics to solve clinical problems. The present portfolio includes over 80 genes and sequencing of mitochondrial loci for mitochondrial disorders.

Indigenous innovations for better food & nutrition

  • The Ksheer Scanner, a new technological invention by CSIR-CEERI detects the level of milk adulteration and adulterants in 45 seconds at the cost of 10 paise, thereby putting adulterators in the milk trade in notice. A hand-held device ‘Ksheer-tester’, a mini version of Ksheer-scanner has also been developed.
  • Double-Fortified Salt: Salt fortified with iodine and iron having improved properties developed and tested for addressing anaemia in people.
  • Anti-obesity DAG Oil: Oil enriched with Diacylglycerol (DAG) instead of conventional triacylglycerol (TAG) developed.

Water management technologies

  • Aquifer Mapping of Water Scarce Areas: Heliborne transient electromagnetic and surface magnetic technique based aquifer mapping carried out in six different geological locations in Rajasthan (2), Bihar, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu.
  • Understanding the Special Properties of the Ganga Water: Assessment of Water Quality & Sediment Analysis of Ganga from different parts is being done.