Ministry of Science & Technology: Year End Review 2016

Major developments/ achievements of Department of Science and Technology – Year End Review 2016:  Major developments/ achievements/ Main highlights of the activities of Department of Science and Technology(DST), Ministry of Science & Technology during the Year 2016 are as following:

v  National Initiative for Developing & Harnessing Innovation (NIDHI), a programme to address the complete chain of innovation ecosystem right from scouting to  mentoring to scaling up  innovations.  launched by DST.  Establishment of a research park at IIT Gandhinagar has been supported at a cost of Rs.90 cr.

v  Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB) has initiated a new scheme viz.  Visiting Advanced Joint Research (VAJRA) Faculty Scheme. The scheme envisages to associate distinguished international faculty as Adjunct/Visiting Faculty in Indian institutions for a period of 1-3 month in a year.

v  Overseas Doctoral Fellowship scheme aimed to impart research training of Ph.D. Scholars in Indian institutions for collaborative research abroad was launched by SERB. Fellowship would be for a period upto 12 months.

v  ‘Technology Vision 2035’ document was released by Hon’ble Prime Minister, on 3^rd January 2016 during 103^rd session of Indian Science Congress, held at Mysore University, Mysuru.

v  Devasthal Optical Telescope, an Indo-Belgian venture,  successfully established by Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences (ARIES), Nainital was technically activated by Hon’ble Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendra Modi and Hon’ble Prime Minister of Belgium, Mr. Charles Michel, remotely from Brussels.

v  Surya Jyoti: Photovoltaic integrated Micro Solar Dome, is the simple innovative technology developed to meet the lighting need for people who do not have access to reliable supply of electricity. The product has been included for subsidy under Off Grid and decentralized solar application scheme of Ministry of New and Renewable energy. The Ministry of Rural Development has informed to all States and Union Territories to explore the possibility of adopting this innovative technology of Surya Jyoti for the houses constructed under Prime Minister Awas Yojana-Gramin.

v  The National Award for the successful commercialization of indigenous technology was presented to SMITA Research Lab, IIT Delhi for the commercialization of N9 Pure Silver by , the Hon’ble President of India, during the Technology Day function on 11^th May 2016. Technology was jointly developed by  M/s RESIL Chemicals Private Limited and ARCI, Hyderabad under Nano Mission of DST.

v  Deployment of a mobile RO unit: DST has supported quick deployment and demonstration of a mobile water purification unit developed by CSIR-CSMCRI for producing portable water for drinking. It was  demonstrated in Latur, Marathwada region which  was facing severe scarcity of drinking water during this year’s drought period.

v  Dielectric Barrier Discharge (DBD) based plasma system for portable water purification: A technology developed at CEERI Pilani through support by DST’s Water Technology Initiative (WTI)  for Dielectric Barrier Discharge (DBD) based plasma system for disinfection has been successfully transferred for commercialization to Turners Pvt. Ltd. Jaipur.

v  The Water Quality Laboratory at Kohima, Nagaland: The Referral Water Laboratory, fully equipped with the in house sophisticated analytical equipments for Water Quality analysis was inaugurated by the Hon’ble Union Minister of Science and Technology Dr. Harsh Vardhan at NASTEC, Kohima, Nagaland,

v  Solar Energy Research Institute for India and the United States (SERIIUS): The Indo-US consortium has developed the crucial prototype test loop that demonstrate the multiscale aspects of the supercritical CO₂ Brayton cycle (s-CO2) at IISc Bangalore for development of high temperature concentrated solar power in the country.

v  BRICS STI Cooperation: To further strengthen the collaboration amongst the BRICS countries in the areas of Science, Technology and Innovation (STI), the 4^thBRICS Science, Technology and Innovation Ministerial Meeting was convened on 8 October, 2016 at Jaipur.

v  DST and RC-UK have agreed to launch India-UK Clean Energy R&D Centre on solar energy, storage and integration with an investment of £ 5 million from each side.

v  Building upon the Thames-Ganga Partnership and recognising the importance of clean and portable water, DST and RCUK have agreed to launch a new collaborative programme on Improving Water Quality and Reusing Waste Water.

v  DST-Intel Collaborative Research for Real-Time River Water and Air Quality Monitoring: Recognizing the importance of developing the online River Water and Air Quality Monitoring systems, DST and Intel has initiated a joint programme at a cost of Rs.33 cr on a 50:50 cost sharing basis in Public-Private Partnership (PPP) mode.

v  A new programme on Interdisciplinary Cyber Physical Systems (ICPS) to foster and promote R&D in this emerging field of research has been launched. A Cyber Physical System (CPS) is a mechanism controlled or monitored by computer-based algorithms, tightly integrated with internet and its users. It is an engineered system that are built from and depend upon, the seamless integration of computational algorithms and physical components.

v   Collaboration with the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (RAL), UK: Initiated to access its neutron facility for carrying out research in Nano Science and Technology.

v   DST constituted ‘Standing Committee for Promoting Women in Science’ to address a low representation of women in Science & Technology (S&T) domain. To provide opportunities to women scientists and technologists for pursuing research in basic or applied sciences,  227 projects were recommended for support. Twenty nine projects to women scientist were supported for finding out solutions to  challenges/issues at the grassroots level for social benefit. To create opportunity of self employment and/or also sustainable career for the women scientists, one year internship in the domain of Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) to  111 women was provided during the year.

v  Technology  demonstrated  for  cyber-digital-physical  reconstruction  of  Hampi heritage  structures. Plans for covering 100 monuments are under formulation.

v  DST-STI Policy Fellowship at post-doctoral level was initiated to generate a critical mass of policy researchers.

v  In the context of Start-up India initiative of the Government,  INSPIRE Awards scheme has been revamped to foster culture of innovation among school children of class VI to class X.  The scheme has been rechristened as INSPIRE Awards-MANAK (Million Minds Augmenting National Aspiration and Knowledge). The 6^thNational Level Exhibition & Project Competition was organized during December 10-11, 2016 along with India International Science Festival (IISF) at CSIR-NPL, New Delhi.