Following is the text from the Speech of Hon’ble Minister of Science & Technology Shri Vilasrao Deshmukh while giving away awards on Technology Day, May 11th, 2012 in a function at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi in which Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, former President of India was the Chief Guest.
“On the 11th May 1998, India showcased for the world some technology landmarks. With one of them, our distinguished chief guest was closely associated. With another, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research was associated. Since then we observe, 11th May as National Technology Day. It gives me great pleasure to participate in the Technology Day celebrations in the company of our former president, Dr Abdul Kalam and all of you.
Celebration of National Technology Day, in some sense, is a statement of India in search of technology-led growth path. India with limited resources had been able to counter challenges of technology denial in some key strategic areas in the past. The nation is proud of the achievements of our scientists and engineers, who gained technology self reliance in such key areas.
We should develop the capacity of making the right choices of technologies for addressing the challenges of the modern world. We need to ensure synergy between research and product development. We should focus on gaining access to critical technology needs of the future one way or the other. India is now marching towards establishment of knowledge based industries. We should harness our resources and strengths to meet our requirements in the area of innovation-led manufacturing.
Our chief guest of the day has always spoken about India becoming a developed Nation by 2020. It is not a dream. It should become a national and social commitment. This day reminds us that we should strive to achieve three objectives in technology and innovation space. They are technological self reliance, affordable innovations and global competitiveness in critical technology areas. To realize these three objectives, we need to stay ahead of the curve, remain open to new ideas. Technology development without deployment is like owning an aircraft without a pilot. Deployment of technologies would necessarily have to take place in the production systems. Therefore industries become the major sources of technology pull. We need to create a large demand pull for technologies.
The Ministry of Science & Technology has also been partnering with industry associations such as FICCI and CII to achieve excellence in technology development through public private partnership. With this objective, DST has taken initiative to launch two new programs on this day, one in collaboration with Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) named “GITA” (Global Innovation & Technology Alliance) and the other in collaboration with USAID and Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) named “Millennium Alliance”.
GITA will scout for innovations around the world and leverage such innovations for enhancing technology competitiveness of Indian Industry & Institutions. GITA will support joint technology development, technology transfer and joint ventures between Indian entities and companies overseas.
Whereas “Millennium Alliance”, an India - U.S. Innovation Partnership for Global Development, is designed to promote cost-effective and rigorously tested solutions for critical development challenges that have the potential for sustained global impact. During an interaction event with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on May 8th, 2012 at New Delhi, I have committed a contribution of $5 million through Technology Development Board, Department of Science & Technology, Govt. of India for this joint initiative.
I would also encourage our research and development organizations and laboratories to develop a closer interface with the academic world. It is essential that we motivate and incentivize our youth to focus on research activities. The development of advanced technology is not a one-off event, nor can it be achieved in a day. An integrated approach to building a broad base of scientific talent, production capacities and a long-term vision are key elements to success. I am happy that my ministry is engaged in preparing the country for welcome technological future.
I am confident that our scientists and technologists will rise to the occasion and be able to convert the challenges into new opportunities for creative endeavors. Your efforts will help in building a strong and self-reliant India.
I am happy to share that all departments of my Ministry collectively support innovations and new ideas. Let me give you some examples. They are Techno-entrepreneurship Promotion Programme ( TePP) of DSIR, SIBRI programme of DBT, Incubation programme of DST along with NIMITLI of CSIR. I invite the innovators and the industry to make use of these initiatives.
I congratulate the award winners and hope that many more such ventures will come forward to help the country in achieving excellence in knowledge based innovative product development for the benefit of the society. I also congratulate IIT Kanpur for the award for establishing the Best Technology Business Incubator for the year 2011.I would conclude by inviting you all, to an exciting journey of Technology Led Economic Growth of India, in which we all individually as well as collectively have an important and critical role to play.”
“On the 11th May 1998, India showcased for the world some technology landmarks. With one of them, our distinguished chief guest was closely associated. With another, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research was associated. Since then we observe, 11th May as National Technology Day. It gives me great pleasure to participate in the Technology Day celebrations in the company of our former president, Dr Abdul Kalam and all of you.
Celebration of National Technology Day, in some sense, is a statement of India in search of technology-led growth path. India with limited resources had been able to counter challenges of technology denial in some key strategic areas in the past. The nation is proud of the achievements of our scientists and engineers, who gained technology self reliance in such key areas.
We should develop the capacity of making the right choices of technologies for addressing the challenges of the modern world. We need to ensure synergy between research and product development. We should focus on gaining access to critical technology needs of the future one way or the other. India is now marching towards establishment of knowledge based industries. We should harness our resources and strengths to meet our requirements in the area of innovation-led manufacturing.
Our chief guest of the day has always spoken about India becoming a developed Nation by 2020. It is not a dream. It should become a national and social commitment. This day reminds us that we should strive to achieve three objectives in technology and innovation space. They are technological self reliance, affordable innovations and global competitiveness in critical technology areas. To realize these three objectives, we need to stay ahead of the curve, remain open to new ideas. Technology development without deployment is like owning an aircraft without a pilot. Deployment of technologies would necessarily have to take place in the production systems. Therefore industries become the major sources of technology pull. We need to create a large demand pull for technologies.
The Ministry of Science & Technology has also been partnering with industry associations such as FICCI and CII to achieve excellence in technology development through public private partnership. With this objective, DST has taken initiative to launch two new programs on this day, one in collaboration with Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) named “GITA” (Global Innovation & Technology Alliance) and the other in collaboration with USAID and Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) named “Millennium Alliance”.
GITA will scout for innovations around the world and leverage such innovations for enhancing technology competitiveness of Indian Industry & Institutions. GITA will support joint technology development, technology transfer and joint ventures between Indian entities and companies overseas.
Whereas “Millennium Alliance”, an India - U.S. Innovation Partnership for Global Development, is designed to promote cost-effective and rigorously tested solutions for critical development challenges that have the potential for sustained global impact. During an interaction event with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on May 8th, 2012 at New Delhi, I have committed a contribution of $5 million through Technology Development Board, Department of Science & Technology, Govt. of India for this joint initiative.
I would also encourage our research and development organizations and laboratories to develop a closer interface with the academic world. It is essential that we motivate and incentivize our youth to focus on research activities. The development of advanced technology is not a one-off event, nor can it be achieved in a day. An integrated approach to building a broad base of scientific talent, production capacities and a long-term vision are key elements to success. I am happy that my ministry is engaged in preparing the country for welcome technological future.
I am confident that our scientists and technologists will rise to the occasion and be able to convert the challenges into new opportunities for creative endeavors. Your efforts will help in building a strong and self-reliant India.
I am happy to share that all departments of my Ministry collectively support innovations and new ideas. Let me give you some examples. They are Techno-entrepreneurship Promotion Programme ( TePP) of DSIR, SIBRI programme of DBT, Incubation programme of DST along with NIMITLI of CSIR. I invite the innovators and the industry to make use of these initiatives.
I congratulate the award winners and hope that many more such ventures will come forward to help the country in achieving excellence in knowledge based innovative product development for the benefit of the society. I also congratulate IIT Kanpur for the award for establishing the Best Technology Business Incubator for the year 2011.I would conclude by inviting you all, to an exciting journey of Technology Led Economic Growth of India, in which we all individually as well as collectively have an important and critical role to play.”
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