The Nano Mission, the umbrella programme for capacity building in the field of nanotechnology in the country, aims to extend Rs 1,000 crore in funding support to projects over a period of five years. This translates into Rs 200 crore per annum.
“It is barely $44 million. That is not much for a discipline like nanotechnology which requires such expensive machinery,” said Ajay Sood, professor, department of Physics, Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bangalore.
“However, the Indian industry does not have the capacity to absorb even this though India has gone quite far in the last three to four years,” he added.
The Bangalore Nano National Award-2010 was presented to Ajay Sood, for his achievements in the field of nanotechnology at the Bangalore Nano.
China, Japan, Russia and the US among others are far ahead of India in the field of nanotechnology, Sood said. India has a steep curve to climb, a much steeper curve than many other countries. The spend on nanotechnology by some of the other countries is 10 to 12 times higher than that of India.
The Nano Mission envisages the overall development of the field in the country and tapping some of its applied potential for the national development.
At the inaugural function, eminent scientist and chairman of Prime Minister's Science Advisory Council, C N R Rao, promised more government support and funding to bright researchers and technologists, and said the youth are the key to taking science and technology to greater heights in India.
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“More funding and better institutional infrastructure is being provided to give greater opportunity to youth and bright people. But, what’s required is human endeavour,” said Rao, chairman of Karnataka’s Vision Group on science and technology and honorary president of the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research here.
Yoshio Bando, Chief Operating Officer, International Centre for Materials Nanoelectronics, Japan, said that nanotechnology offers a new approach to education and innovation.
He described India as one of the “main and important” countries, and said Japan would like to strengthen research collaboration with India, particularly in the field of nano technology.
This year’s event is featuring Research Industry Collaboration Hub (RICH) wherein eight start-up companies would be pitching for investments or research collaborations from the venture capitalist research institutions.