Impetus For Hardware An Imperative: Nic Chief

There must be greater interaction between the scientific community and entrepreneurs was the agreed view at a seminar on technologies from India, jointly organised by the ITPO, Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR), and the Federation of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (FISME) on Thursday.

The opening session was addressed by SP Agarwal, joint advisor, DSIR, Dinesh Singhal, President FISME and Y S Rajan, Sr Advisor (Technology) CII. The keynote address was delivered by K T Chacko, executive director, ITPO, who stressed that science and the marketplace had a meeting ground.

A member of presentation were made during the seminar including one by the National Research Development Corporation which has developed many innovative technologies and products such as toffee candy plant and coconut jam. During the first technical session which was on chemicals and pharmaceuticals, NK Sharma, MD, NRDC shared the motto "from minds to global markets" as the key phrase of the 21st century. He specified that first htere must be an export of products, before technology, whcih must be secondary.

The second technical session was on Electrical, Electronics and Telecommunications. Chairperson Prof. Ashok Jhunjhunwala from IIT Chennai spoke of these fields as the "recently acquired strength of the country" and noted that the boom in Silicon was largely due to a part played by India.

The final technical session was on