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 to projects in the country 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 that requires such expensive machinery,” said Ajay Sood, Professor, Department of Physics, Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bangalore,”for a discipline like nanotechnology.” He added: “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.”
Countries like China, Japan, Russia and the US among others are far ahead of us 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 mission envisages the overall development of the field of research in the country and tapping some of its applied potential for the national development. The Bangalore Nano National Award 2010 was presented to Ajay Sood, Professor, Department of Physics, IISc Bangalore, for his achievements in the field of nanotechnology at the Bangalore Nano that got off in Bangalore on Wednesday.
At the inaugural function, eminent scientist and Chairman of Science Advisory Council to Prime Minister, 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.
“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.
More From This Section
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, Bando 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 startup companies would be pitching for investments or research collaborations from the venture capitalistsesearch institutions.