WORKSHOP

The objective of the workshop was to enable the colleges to know about schemes and grants of Govt. of India for innovation projects of research and development activities for which Colleges are eligible to apply. It also focused on the application process for grants that can maximize the chances of sanction.

The keynote speakers at the event were:

1. Prof. S. K. Atreya – IIT, Delhi, Advisor & Mentor, COIN

2. Dr. R Radhakrishnan – President, COIN

3. Mr. Ashutosh K. Agarwal – Secretary, COIN

4. Mr. Sanjay Kumar Jha – Member, COIN

5. Mr. Jayant Kaintura – Head, Learning & Development, Tevatron Technologies

After the inauguration ceremony Prof. S. K. Atreya delivered the welcome speech. He explained the concept of launching COIN (The Consortium for Innovation). HE explained the session by explaining about the concept of COIN. HE said that COIN was formed to bring all aspiring colleges under one association in order to discuss, exchange of ideas and exchange of information with the objective of preparing proposals for obtaining grants from various govt. agencies like DST, UGC, AICTE, SERB, and CSIR etc.

He further added that Govt. of India is benevolent supporter of research and development and higher education. The IITs were beneficiaries of such fundings. IIT Delhi earned Rs. 300 crores from projects and research work carried out by obtaining funds from these govt. agencies.

He said that increasing internationalization in research and teaching is strongly supported by the Indian sector and considered vital for Indian institutions in developing India’s capacity in research and innovation, driving up India’s institutional rankings and increasing the quality of teaching and learning. International agencies also pour in huge capital for research related work in India. The main sponsors for R&D works are DST, UGC, AICTE and others. The key result areas checked by funding agencies are College infrastructure, Quality of faculty, Research papers published, Projects executed, facilities available etc. Following has to be ensured:

1. The universities have been the centers of research .

2. Although, the government has a network of science and technology laboratories for research and development, the major base of researchers in science and technology y remains with the universities and colleges.

3. The university and college teachers need to be supported to meet their requirements for individual research in specialized areas.

4. To promote excellence in research in higher education by supporting research programs of University and College teachers in various disciplines.

Dr. R. Radhakrishnan said that the extramural research scheme of DRDO supports the instrumentality of Memoranda of Collaboration (MoC) between DRDO Laboratories & Establishments and academia. These MoC involve more than one DRDO establishments and cover explorations and investigations on a range of topics within a broad subject arena that generically cross-link the research activities of the collaborating Laboratories & Establishments and the research-disciplines of the selected collaborating academic institution. Such institutional cross-linking is organic, not episodic, and is made operational in an MoC through a management structure which includes in its standing arrangements representation of directors of the collaborating DRDO institutions. The ER scheme also provides financial assistance for organizing conferences/seminars/workshops on the topics related to DRDO activities. HE also highlighted on various schemes namely S&T infrastructure, Swarn Jayanti Fellowship, Women Scientist Program, Kishore Vigyan Protsahan Yojana, Inspired Fellowship and NSTMIS (National Science & Technology Management Information System).

Mr. Ashutosh Agarwal gave an insight on the availability of various grants like Tata Innovation Fellowship, Prime Minister Fellowship Scheme for Doctoral Research, IFCPAR (Indo-French Centre for Promotion of Advance Research), and Shastri Research Grant etc.

Mr. Jayant was the guest speaker from industry. He discussed the projects and about the company with reference to the importance of innovation and development. He said that. Tevatron Technologies is a Design and Product Company focused on VLSI Design, FPGA Based Design & Embedded Systems and nurturing the ecosystem for the same. He said that Tevatron Technologies Semiconductor expertise spans FPGA based Design , VHDL / Verilog RTL Development & Verification, CMOS Layout & PCB Design. The Embedded Software expertise ranges from Outsourced Product Development (OPD), Firmware & Device Drivers Development, RTOS Porting to Embedded Reference Board Development on microcontroller, ARM processor and DSP .

He further added that Tevatron Technologies Telecom Network Services Division (TNSD) provide managed network services that span planning and design, deployment, integration and testing, services migration.

The workshop proved to be very enriching and helpful so it was decided to conduct such events at regular intervals.