Integrate your research, open up to people: Union Minister Jitendra Singh to CSIR labs

Union Minister emphasizes collaboration among CSIR labs and stakeholders for global success, urging more interaction and industry linkage.

It is high time that labs under the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Department of Bio-Technology (DBT) and also Department of Science & Technology (DST) work in synergy in an integrated manner and open up for the various stakeholders, said Union Minister of State for Science and Technology Jitendra Singh on Tuesday.

“We cannot be working in silos and think of attaining global benchmarks. What are you trying to protect behind closed doors when Google can peep inside? Its absurd! We need to interact more with the general public, stakeholders like the farmers, entrepreneurs and the private industry. The government alone cannot do everything,” he said.

He was addressing scientists and entrepreneurs at the launch of the two-day StartUp Conclave organised jointly for the first time by the CSIR-Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (IICT), CSIR-Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) and CSIR-National Geophysical Research Institute (NGRI) at the IICT campus.

Pointing out that the Centre had enhanced the science budget from ₹5,615 crore to ₹13,416 crore or up to 230% in the last 11 years, the Minister wanted the scientists to reach out and interact so that the startups ecosystem can prosper with an early industry linkage. He was taken aback to know that the three CSIR institutes involved in the conclave don’t interact often.

The Centre had first opened up the space sector to industry and now even nuclear energy too. “We need to have a holistic team approach for a global standing. None of the success stories in science have been successful working in silos. We are doing wonderful work but are people aware?,” he questioned. Dr. Singh also mentioned about the ‘overlapping’ research being undertaken by various labs and more collaborations for better efficiency in resources usage.

GreenworksBio products Shivani Rai, Startoon Labs Suresh Susarla and Skyroot Aerospace C.S.V. Kiran gave a brief pitch about their respective work and products. Union Minister of Coal & Mines G. Kishan Reddy is scheduled to be the chief guest on the second day CSIR-IICT director D. Srinivas Reddy, CSIR-CCMB director Vinay Kumar Nandicoori, CSIR-NGRI director Prakash Kumar, Malakjgiri MP Eatala Rajender and Uppal MLA B. Lakshma Reddy also spoke.