With the current initiatives and policies of the State to attract investors from across the country and beyond a need has long been felt by the industry fraternity, academia and presently the budding entrepreneurs and start-ups, to have access to a state-of-the-art industrial research facility in and around Guwahati is the epicentre of all economic activities of the state. A facility equipped with state-of-the-art infrastructure, IT (hardware & software) and access to domain experts and knowledge persons who can facilitate Product Development and IPR and market research. Such a Centre could promote activities in the area of scientific and industrial research, design and development of indigenous technology to achieve technological self-reliance and minimize foreign inputs.
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Such a centre could give due emphasis to jobs of varied nature like troubleshooting, product and process development, design checks and investigation of problems of direct relevance to the needs of the country through time-bound Sponsored Research and Consultancy projects. The Centre could be actively involved in collaborative research programmes with international organizations and universities to remain at the forefront of scientific and technological developments and to share this knowledge.
It could serve as an interface between Industry and Academia to facilitate training and skilling of youth on future skills to make them market-ready.
Fabrication Labs with necessary equipment and tools for product design and development right through the Prototype stage up to the final product stage including Quality Control Processes for achieving superior standards. Facilitating processes for patent applications and showcasing patented products. A knowledge bank with participation from industries, both local as well outside the state, experienced industry experts, marketing professionals, industry federations and handholding support and guidance by knowledge resources from the Institute.
Such an initiative would give a Push to SME and MSME sectors via product prototyping support. Industry 4.0 – facilitate roll out of augmented technologies like AI, and IOT into Industry.
Attract Investors – process-based industries and manufacturing units.
Future Needs – Support planning for future requirements of Industry for Research and Skilled Manpower – Upskilling and Cross Skilling on present and future tech.
(The author is the COO of IIT Guwahati Research Park. All views and opinions expressed in the article are the author’s own)
