India, Science and Technology:  2008

S&T Structure, Infrastructure and Public Space

 

 

 

S&T Infrastructure

 

 

Devashree Nayak & P.V.S. Kumar

 

 

“It is science alone that can solve the problems of hunger and poverty, of insanitation and illiteracy, of superstition and deadening of custom and tradition, of vast resources running to waste, or a rich country inhabited by starving poor..”

Jawaharlal Nehru

 

In 1950¹ when India became a Republic, there were 27 universities, 208 professional colleges, 0.23 million schools, with literacy rate of 18.3 %. India's first Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru gave whole-hearted support to a concerted programme for the promotion of S&T in the country. Jawaharlal Nehru firmly believed that Science and Technology can be the twin tools that would help bring about social equity and economic development to enable India join the mainstream of the world community.

The innate ability to perform creatively in science came to be backed with an institutional set-up and strong state support in 1958 with the passing of Scientific Policy Resolution (SPR) of 1958, the aim of which was "to foster, promote and sustain the cultivation of sciences and scientific research in the country and to secure for the people all the benefits that can accrue from the acquisition and application of scientific knowledge".  Many new S&T departments and laboratories were set up and the pursuance of scientific research started in an organized manner. Since then, the Government of India has stepped up efforts to establish a modern S&T organization in the country. As a result, Central and State Governments’ public expenditure on education has increased from 1.5 % of GDP in 1950-51 to 3.76% of GDP in 2003-04¹. This is still substantially lower from the planned level of 6% of GDP in India’s national policy for education.

Sufficient infrastructure is essential for the Indian S&T organizations to efficiently perform. In addition to R&D activities, S&T organizations also support extramural research, and provide extension services such as consultancy and training for the benefit of industry and other end-users. The S&T infrastructure in India encompasses S&T organizations under the Central Government, State Government as well as public and private sectors working in areas as diverse as agriculture and healthcare on the one hand and nuclear and space research on the other. Significant contributors are the large number of institutes/undertakings functioning under the Central Government S&T departments.

 

S&T Infrastructure

While Infrastructure is recognized as a crucial input for economic development, there is no clear definition of infrastructure. The term ‘infra’ refers to foundation or something underlying for the effective functioning of a system – the basis or framework on which something is built. The term is popularly used to describe the services – roads, electricity supply, sewerage, phone lines, bus routes, water pipes and so on – which enable a business, industry or economy to function. Infrastructure is largely government-owned but an extensive process of corporatisation and privatisation is under way in many countries. The term came into vogue with military applications in the early 20^th century. Since then, the term is used variously to refer to very many things. A more generic definition of infrastructure is the network of assets "where the system as a whole is intended to be maintained indefinitely at a specified standard of service by the continuing replacement and refurbishment of its components." For policy formulation, setting of sectoral targets and monitoring projects, a clear understanding of what is covered under the rubric of ‘infrastructure’ is necessary to ensure consistency and comparability in the data collected and reported by various agencies over time.

The Empowered Sub-Committee 2 of the Committee on Infrastructure within the Planning Commission in its meetings held on 11th January, 2008 and 2nd April 2008 under the chairmanship of Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission included the following in the broad definition of infrastructure:

Electricity (including generation, transmission and distribution) and R&M of power stations, Non-Conventional Energy (including wind energy and solar energy), Water supply and sanitation (including solid waste management, drainage and sewerage) and street lighting, Telecommunications, Road & bridges,  Ports, Inland waterways, Airports, Railways (including rolling stock and mass transit system), Irrigation (including watershed development), Storage, Oil and gas pipeline networks. Besides these Industrial Parks, SEZ, Education Institutes also come under infrastructure definition.

Our understanding is that the infrastructure exists in physical or tangible assets and knowledge based or intangible assets. Infrastructure, in both its tangible and intangible assets, undergirds the process of intellectual S&T development.

 

Fig 1: Overview of Infrastructure in S&T

 

Tangible or physical infrastructure is fundamental to develop a strong base of technological and scientific creativity, and to support all the economic, social and cultural activities that will help in national development. Educational infrastructure, in particular, is vital to generate and reproduce human resources which lead to a strong technological base. It includes buildings, labs, and R&D facilities such as TBI, STEP, IRHPA, SEZ and biotech parks.

The intangible infrastructure is the nation’s knowledge networks in all its social, economic, political and organizational dimensions. This kind of infrastructure is fundamental for raising a nation’s innovative capacity through skills, ICT connectivity for storage (and retrieval of information and data) and faster communications.

Infrastructure is therefore defined as :

Physical assets:

• Buildings
• Equipment / labs / computers /network  hardware
• Libraries
• Human resources
• Financial resources

Intangible / knowledge assets:

• Softwares
• Internet bandwidth / connectivity / accessibility
• Reputation / credentials

In this report on Infrastructure of S&T in India, we would like to focus on the R&D institutes, facilities such as TBI, STEP, IRHPA, SEZ status, biotech parks, labs and equipments as physical aspect of infrastructure. In the intangible aspects ICT Connectivity, broadband access, backbone network, NIXI setup, and grid computing are studied. Most of the data for this report on S&T infrastructure were culled from secondary sources – mainly from the websites of the concerned organisations.

This study is first ever survey done on infrastructure in S&T in India. We tried to build on the available reports in other countries and within our country, such as:

• “Science and Technology Policy Infrastructure Guidelines and References Version 1.0 section1 August 2004” Office of Technology Policy, US http://www.insme.info/documenti/04Guidebook_I.pdf
• “Role of Science & Technology, Higher Education and Research in Regional Socio-Economic Development”  Working paper of Rajesh Shukla and Preeti Kakar, May 2006 NCAER, http://www.ncaer.org/downloads/WorkingPapers/WP98.pdf
• Transforming America’s Scientific and Technological Infrastructure- Recommendation for Urgent Action, Project Kaleidoscope 2006, Report on report II, PKAL http://www.pkal.org/documents/2006ReportOnReports-National.pdf
• European Commission: ERAWATCH Research Inventory Report: India http://cordis.europa.eu/erawatch/index.cfm?fuseaction=ri.countryreport&full=1&countryCode=IN&printme=1

 

Drivers of S & T infrastructure

Infrastructure refers to all those services and facilities that constitute the basic support system of science and technology. Recognizing the critical importance of the infrastructure in S&T, the Government of India has accorded it a high priority. Accordingly, both the Central and the State Governments have been working in tandem to upgrade the Indian infrastructural set up, to meet international norms and standards.  Important state organizations governing scientific programmes towards improving infrastructure facilities in India are:

• Ministry of Science & Technology (MST)
• Ministry of Agriculture(MoA)
• Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES)
• Department of Space (DoS)
• Department of Atomic Energy (DAE)
• Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR)
• Ministry of Human Resource & Development (MHRD)
• Ministry of Communications & Information Technology (MCIT)
• Software Export – Import facilities
• Special Economic Zones (SEZ’s) for Science and Technology

 

Investment in existing and new infrastructure projects involves high risks, low returns, huge capital outlays, high incremental capital/output ratio, long payback periods as well as superior technology. Hence, in order to bring in adequate resources (physical, financial and technical) for setting up a sound and efficient infrastructural S&T base, the Government has entered into the 'Public Private Partnership (PPP)' programme. Through such initiatives, the Government is moving away from its traditional role of 'provider of services' to that of a 'facilitator and regulator'.

 India's enormous unmet infrastructure needs, combined with the public private partnership approach, offer an unprecedented investment opportunity for private players. These opportunities, having the potential of attractive returns, exist in all infrastructural sectors, both at the national and State levels. This programme involves long-term detailed contracts between the Government and private players, spelling out the rights and obligations of both the contracting parties. Such public-private partnerships encourage better risk sharing, accountability, cost recovery and management of infrastructure.

The main objective of Public Private Partnership (PPP) Programmes is expected to promote and develop high-end entrepreneurship for S&T manpower as well as self-employment by utilizing S&T infrastructure.

The Public Private Partnership Programmes are:

• Science and Technology Entrepreneur Parks (STEP)  and Technology Business Incubators (TBI), under  National Science & Technology Entrepreneurship Development Board (NSTEDB), of DST
• Software Technology Parks of India (STPI) under ICT software sector of DIT
• Bio-IT parks under Department of Biotechnology (DBT)
• Biotech Parks under state S&T councils and SEZ’s

 

Profiles of S&T Infrastructure

 

Ministry of Science & Technology (MST)

Under the MST various departments are working towards development and strengthening of infrastructure in fields as vast as agriculture to nano technology and space science. The contribution of MST towards infrastructure is focused through its various departments and their divisions, as given below:

• Department of Science and Technology (DST),
• Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR)
• Department of Biotechnology (DBT)

 

Department of Science & Technology

Department of Science & Technology (DST) established in May 1971, plays the role of a nodal department for organizing, coordinating and promoting S&T activities in the country.  As the pace of S&T effort needs to be accelerated to cover a wide range of programmes, DST has been supporting R&D programmes and activities in a wide spectrum of disciplines in newly emerging and challenging areas of Science and Technology. Efforts are being made to secure partnership of the industry and association of the socio-economic ministries. As a result, multi-institutional programmes have been evolved focusing on indigenous technology development. Scientific Research programmes of DST focusing on the strengthening and improvement of infrastructure are:

• Scientific and Engineering Research Council (SERC)
• S&T and Socio Economic Development Programme
• Research Facilities – Autonomous Institutes and Labs
• National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL)

 

Scientific and Engineering Research Council (SERC):        DST's efforts in strengthening the infrastructural facilities and research capabilities are by active support to SER programmes under Scientific and Engineering Research Council (SERC):

• Intensification of Research in High Priority Areas (IRHPA)
• Fund for Improvement of Infrastructure in Universities and Other Higher Educational Institutes (FIST)
• Sophisticated Analytical Instrument Facilities (SAIFs)
• Mission on Nano Science and Technology (Nano Mission)

 

Intensification of Research in high Priority Areas (IRHPA):          The programme for Intensification of Research in High Priority Areas (IRHPA) was launched during the 6th Five Year Plan to strengthen research in high priority areas. This is meant to set up Core Groups, Centres of Excellence and National Facilities in frontline and emerging fields of science and engineering. This programme has made a real impact in the national and international scientific scene in terms of quality and quantity of work in important fields such as Neurobiology, Solid State Chemistry, Nano-materials, Materials Science, Surface Science, Plasma Physics, Macromolecular Crystallography, Ultrafast Process etc.

A Core Group/Unit is supported around an outstanding scientist in a carefully selected area. This is aimed at strengthening the existing R&D infrastructure with the scientist in order to enhance his research capabilities as well as that of the Host Institution. It also acts as a focal point for R&D and human resource development and training in the area of research. Note worthy facilities³ sanctioned under IRHPA programmes are:

• Quantum design evercool MPMS-XL7 in northern India
• Low-Temperature-High-Magnetic field facility in eastern India
• Low-Temperature-High-Magnetic field facility at Indore
• 14T Vibrating Sample Magnetometer (VSM) and 14T/0.3K system for Resistivity and Heat Capacity measurements
• High Resolution X-ray Powder Diffractometer – An experimental facility for Materials Science Applications was established in the eastern part of India
• National Facility for Texture and Orientation Imaging Microscopy (OIM) has been jointly set up by DST, DRDO and IIT Mumbai at IIT Mumbai
• Advanced Research in Neurotransmitters functional regulation in diabetes and pancreatic regeneration: Insulin secretion and function at molecular level at Cochin University of Science & Technology, Cochin.
• Investigations into Mechanical micro-machining of metals and non-metals at Indian Institute of Technology, Madras
• Research support facility for Ferro-magnetic fluids (Bhavnagar University)
• Facility for Structural Biology (IISc-Bangalore)
• Centre for Non-Accelerator Particle Physics (IIA-Bangalore)
• Biomedical Resonance Research Facility (SG PG Institute of Medical Sciences - Lucknow)
• NMR facilities (MK University-Madurai, University of Poona-Pune)
• Single Crystal X-ray Diffractometer (IISc-Bangalore)
• Phytochemical Research Facility (Kumaon University-Nainital)

 

Fund for Improvement of S&T Infrastructure (FIST):       Considering the present status of the S&T sector in the universities and related academic institutions who are in dire need for strengthening the existing S&T infrastructure support with adequate funding and associated flexibility, Government of India in the year 2000 announced a major new initiative titled "Fund for Improvement of S&T infrastructure in universities & higher educational institutions (FIST)" to rebuild the Science & Technology infrastructure in the country.

Financial support is provided to acquire state-of-art equipment besides basic equipment, renovation of existing infrastructure, augmentation of facilities available in the department and setting up of Computer centre in the department. The Program extends support in six broad subject areas of S&T i.e. Life Sciences, Physical Sciences, Chemical Sciences, Engineering Sciences, Earth & Atmospheric Sciences & Mathematical Science through two levels of support, Level I (A, B, C) and Level II.

 

Level - I

• For improving quality of teaching & research through modernization of laboratories and by augmenting library facilities.
• Up-gradation of basic research facilities.
• Infrastructure facilities.
• Networking & computational facilities.
• Maintenance of equipment.

 

Level – II

• For acquiring state of art equipment.
• For setting up laboratories for conducting internationally competitive research.
• Infrastructure facilities.
• Networking & computational facilities.
• Maintenance of equipment.

 

The financial support given through FIST is mainly classified into four categories with different subheads, as given below:

• Equipment Head:
• Major Equipment: Largely for research purpose.
• Minor Equipment: For Teaching purposes.
• Infrastructure Head:
• Renovation of existing Laboratories, Museum, Animal House, Botanical Garden etc. No fresh construction would be allowed under the support.
• Up-gradation of existing facilities (attachment or accessories for existing facilities)
• Reference Books for Departmental Library.
• Networking & Computational Head:
• Setting up of a Departmental Computer Laboratory with server, few nodes, printers, scanners, UPS, furniture, software, etc (Internet connectivity to be provided by the College/University/Institute).
• Augmentation of existing computational facilities in the Department.
• Maintenance Head:
• AMC, Repair, Spares for the facilities created through FIST grant only.
• Refurnishing of other existing Equipment.

Review of Projects:   For the purpose of review, all these projects are broadly classified in three categories viz:

• Category ‘A’ (support of; more than Rs 50.0 lakh),
• Category ‘B’ (support of; in between Rs 26.0 lakh and Rs 49.0 lakh) and
• Category ‘C’ (support of; less than Rs 25.0 lakh).

All 221, 90, 189 & 120 projects supported under FIST-2000, FIST-2002, FIST-2003, and FIST-2004 respectively have been already reviewed.

 

FIST funding over 7 years:           Since inception of the FIST scheme, during last 7 years more than 1,100 departments⁴ spread over to 297 academic institutions have been identified for a total support of about Rs 740 crores. Financial support to the projects (221 nos.) identified in the year 2000 and 2002 has been provided and barring a few most of the departments have completed the process of acquiring equipment, of renovation of the existing laboratories and of setting up of computer laboratories.

For FIST 2007 scheme, 454 proposals (Level I – 351, Level II- 103) were received. Out of these FISTAB committee recommended 145 proposals (level I -116, level II -29) covering 100 universities and academic institutes. Among the recommended: 58 new departments and 42 departments for repeat support (after completion of 5 years) were identified.

 

Facilities Acquired by Departments:          Under this scheme, many departments have been able to acquire some of the state-of-art equipment such as Confocal Microscope, Spectro-Flurometer, Squid Magnetometer, Bioreactor, Flow Cytometer, Real Time PCR, Dyanomill, Protein Purification System, Phaco Emulsication Unit, Osometer, Soxthem, DNA Sequencers, Articulograph, System for Genome Typing, DSC-TGA, 100 kN UTM, RTOS, Cross Compiler, Microwave Vector Analyzer, Echo Sounder, Thermal Analyzer, Image Capture Station with Sensor Mast, Mobile Robot with Workstation, Particle Size Analyzer, Automatic Particulate Monitor, Automatic Weather Monitor, etc.

Apart from this, many of the departments in various universities, colleges and academic institutions have also established a Central Computer Laboratory in their department which is being extensively used by students, research scholars and faculty members for computational and other activities. Besides this, many of the departments are able to restore their Departmental Libraries by acquiring latest books in the relevant areas of their interest.

 

Fig 2:  Comparison of FIST Funding with strength of UGC recognised universities in states

 

From a perusal of the figure 2 above, it appears that the funding for infrastructural facilities from FIST was skewed in favour of few south Indian states – Karnataka having got 30% of the total funding in the year 2007 while some states like Bihar and Chhattisgarh did not receive any funding. Most of the funding went to IITs and such other elite institutes in metropolitan cities. This skewness is due to the fact that FIST acts on the proposals received from colleges and departments – in a reactive mode – rather than in a proactive mode.

 

Table 1:  State-wise Distribution of the Infrastructure Funding FIST Program – 2007

Note:  © Figures in brackets refer to the percentage of the funding to the total funding granted for the year 2007

Source: Department of Higher Education. Annual report 2007-2008

 

 

Table 2: State Wise Proposals Received and Proposals Supported under FIST (2000 – 2007)

 

 

 

Table 3:   Academic Sector-Wise Distribution of Recommended Proposals in FIST under Level I and II

FIST (2000-2007) LEVEL – I & LEVEL – II

 

* Repeat support Departments included

 

 

Table 4: Budget Heading Wise Distribution of FIST (2002-2007)

A. LEVEL- I                                                                             (Rs in Lakhs)

S No	Subject Area	Funding Year	Equipment (E)	Networking (NW)	Infrastructure (IF)	Maintenance (M)	Total
1.	Life Sciences	FIST 2002	1608	259	288	248	2403
		FIST 2003	1087	216.5	252	148.5	1704
		FIST 2004	1382	139	21	136	1678
		FIST 2005	894.5	75.5	43	82	1095
		FIST 2006	1720	141	131	156	2148
		FIST 2007	1541	187	194	229	2151
2.	Physical Sciences	FIST 2002	455	305	88	42	890
		FIST 2003	747	70	68	71	956
		FIST 2004	171	28	13	36	248
		FIST 2005	142	30	17	24	213
		FIST 2006	912	74	78	72	1136
		FIST 2007	765	115	105	87	1072
3.	Chemical Sciences	FIST 2002	795	87	115	72	1069
		FIST 2003	428	83	77	42	630
		FIST 2004	178	71	70	28	347
		FIST 2005	422	66	120	52	660
		FIST 2006	1622	144	223	142	2131
		FIST 2007	1285	150	327	191	1953
4.	Engineering Sciences	FIST 2002	1760	407	7	49	2223
		FIST 2003	1162.5	78	13	119.5	1409
		FIST 2004	775.5	64	16.5	68	924
		FIST 2005	1264	73	12	86	1435
		FIST 2006	1125	80	30	90	1325
		FIST 2007	2102	50	---	223	2375
5.	Earth & Atmospheric Sciences	FIST 2002	651	236	48	82	1017
		FIST 2003	558	165	116	107	946
		FIST 2004	304	74	55	45	478
		FIST 2005	192	45	10	24	271
		FIST 2006	345	112	30	36	523
		FIST 2007	302	110	96	50	558
6.	Mathematical Sciences	FIST 2002	68	95	121	22	306
		FIST 2003	115	35.5	47.5	18	216
		FIST 2004	30.5	35	26.5	20	112
		FIST 2005	49.5	--	13.5	13	76
		FIST 2006	40	-	25	5.5	70.5
		FIST 2007	---	55.5	59	16.5	131

 

B. LEVEL- II                                                                            (Rs in lakhs)

S No	Subject Area	Funding Year	Equipment (E)	Networking (NW)	Infrastructure (IF)	Maintenance (M)	Total
1.	Life Sciences	FIST 2002	270	15	33	27	345
		FIST 2003	319	5	40	20	384
		FIST 2004	100	-	5	10	115
		FIST 2005	150	-	5	15	170
		FIST 2006	250	-	-	20	270
		FIST 2007	1965	95	215	180	2455
2.	Physical Sciences	FIST 2002	407	25	7	32	471
		FIST 2003	75	3	2	3	83
		FIST 2004	125	-	-	10	135
		FIST 2005	200	5	2	5	212
		FIST 2006	400	50	-	25	475
		FIST 2007	1515	180	10	170	1875
3.	Chemical Sciences	FIST 2002	175	10	-	15	200
		FIST 2003	120	-	-	5	125
		FIST 2004	-	-	-	-	-
		FIST 2005	175	60	-	15	250
		FIST 2006	-	-	-	-	-
		FIST 2007	2790	225	330	340	3685
4.	Engineering Sciences	FIST 2002	895	15	-	-	910
		FIST 2003	1115	-	-	65	1180
		FIST 2004	185	-	-	10	195
		FIST 2005	355	-	-	25	380
		FIST 2006	3770	-	-	150	3920
		FIST 2007	5000	110	---	390	5500
5.	Earth & Atmospheric Sciences	FIST 2002	221	10	17	20	268
		FIST 2003	-	-	-	-	-
		FIST 2004	-	-	-	-	-
		FIST 2005	245	-	-	15	260
		FIST 2006	-	-	-	-	-
		FIST 2007	220	20	---	20	260
6.	Mathematical Sciences	FIST 2002	22	-	20	6	48
		FIST 2003	17	7	18	3	45
		FIST 2004	-	-	-	-	-
		FIST 2005	15	-	7.5	5	27.5
		FIST 2006	-	-	-	-	-
		FIST 2007	---	---	---	---	---

 

 

Sophisticated Analytical Instrument Facilities (SAIF):            The Department of Science & Technology (DST) has set up Sophisticated Analytical Instrument Facilities (SAIFs) in different parts of the country to provide the facilities of sophisticated analytical instruments, as a service, to the research workers in general and specially for institutions which do not have access to such instruments to enable them to pursue R&D activities requiring such facilities and keep pace with developments taking place globally. The instrument facilities provided by the SAIFs are being utilized by about 6,000 users every year from academic institutions, R&D laboratories and industries from all over the country. These instruments are expensive and cannot be provided through individual project mechanism. Moreover, these instruments are of inter/multidisciplinary utility and thus it is desirable to use them on sharing basis for their optimum utilization on services to user basis.

 

Location of the SAIFs⁵:        At present there are 13 SAIFs in India. SAIF’s are functioning at IIT, Chennai; IIT, Mumbai; Bose Institute, Kolkata; CDRI, Lucknow; Punjab University, Chandigarh; NEHU, Shillong; Nagpur University, Nagpur; IISc., Bangalore; AIIMS, New Delhi; Gauhati University, Guwahati; IIT, Roorkee; C.V.M., Vallabh Vidyanagar and STIC, Kochi.

Analytical instruments/facilities available at the SAIFs:  The SAIFs are equipped with sophisticated analytical instruments in the areas of Optical spectroscopy, NMR and EPR spectroscopy, X-ray based analysis, Electron microscopy, Mass spectrometry, Chromatography, Organic elemental analysis, Thermal analysis etc. to meet the needs of users in various areas of science & technology. A wide range of analytical methods/techniques for chemical/material-analysis/testing/characterization including qualitative and quantitative elemental, molecular/compound-analysis, structure determination, surface topographic studies, study of physical, optical and electrical properties of materials etc. are available to the users at these facilities for helping them in their research work.

 

Mission on Nano Science and Technology (Nano Mission) :           Nano Technology is a knowledge-intensive and “enabling technology” which is expected to influence a wide range of products and processes with far-reaching implications for national economy and development. The Government of India, in May 2007, has approved the launch of a Mission on Nano Science and Technology (Nano Mission) ⁶ with an allocation of Rs. 1,000 crore for 5 years under Department of Science and Technology as nodal agency for implementing the Nano Mission.

The Nano Mission is an umbrella programme for capacity building which envisages the overall development of this field of research in the country and to tap some of its applied potential for the nation’s development. The objectives of the Nano-Mission are:

• Basic Research Promotion,
• Nano Applications and Technology,
• Development Programmes,
• Human Resource Development,
• International Collaborations and
• Infrastructure Development for Nano Science & Technology Research.

Infrastructure development includes investigations on the nano scale which require expensive equipment like Optical Tweezer, Nano Indentor, Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM), Atomic Force Microscope (AFM), Scanning Tunnelling Microscope (STM), Matrix Assisted Laser Desorption Time of Flight Mass Spectrometer (MALDI TOF MS), Microarray Spotter & Scanner etc. For optimal use of expensive and sophisticated facilities, it is proposed to establish a chain of shared facilities across the country.

 

DST Activities in Nano Science and Technology infrastructure:        The Nano Mission is the second phase of DST activities in Nano Science and Technology. In October 2001 DST launched a modest programme in Nano Science and Technology, called the Nano Science and Technology Initiative (NSTI), and the Nano Mission is the successor of this programme. Under NSTI, and since May 2007 under the Nano Mission, DST has supported a number of activities in Nano Science and Technology. Among these, infrastructure development programmes are as:

• Strengthening of Characterization Facilities
  Research with nano-scale systems requires sophisticated characterization facilities which were not available in our institutions. Realizing this gap, DST has established an array of sophisticated equipments at various locations in the country.
• Establishment of Centres of Excellence

Eleven Units/Core Groups on Nano Science have been sanctioned across the country. These centres of excellence house some of the more sophisticated facilities for sharing with other scientists in the region. Seven Centres for Nano Technology focusing on development of specific applications have also been established. In addition, a centre of excellence on Computational Materials Science has also been established at JNCASR, Bangalore.

 

S&T and Socio Economic Development Programmes:            In the context of liberalisation, DST has accorded greater emphasis on projects related to technology development. The societal program of the DST aims primarily at reaching technology to the weaker section of the society so that they derive benefit in terms of enhanced income, reduced drudgery and in general an improved quality of life. While in the previous years the emphasis was on development of appropriate technology packages, recently a deliberate attempt has been made to enlarge the scope of the activities through co-ordinated programs. Such programmes that enhance the infrastructure are as:

• National Science & Technology Entrepreneurship Development Board (NSTEDB)
• State Science & Technology Programme (SSTP)

 

National Science and Technology Entrepreneurship Development Board (NSTEDB):         National Science and Technology Entrepreneurship Development Board (NSTEDB)⁷ established in January 1982, has been making systematic and continued effort in fostering entrepreneurship among S&T persons through its programmes and activities. The purpose is to create additional employment through entrepreneurship and application of S&T tools and methods thereby utilizing the existing S&T infrastructure. The programmes pursued by NSTEDB to strengthen S&T infrastructure through entrepreneurship are:

• Science & Technology Entrepreneurs Park (STEP)
• Technology Business Incubator (TBI)

 

Science Technology entrepreneurs Parks (STEP)⁸:          is an ongoing scheme promoted by NSTEDB jointly with the financial institutions (IDBI, IFCI, and ICICI), State Governments and the Academic Institutions of Excellence. STEP provides a re-orientation in approach to innovation and entrepreneurship involving education, training, research, finance, management and government. Each STEP operates in the identified thrust area based on the expertise, facilities of the institution and the industrial milieu of the region. STEPs are hardware intensive with emphasis on common facilities, services and relevant equipments. Facilities available with the STEPs include Nursery Sheds, Testing and Calibration, Training, Precision Tool Room, Prototype development, Technology transfer, Computing, Library and documentation, facilitation towards ISO900 certification and common facilities such as fax, internet, telex, photocopying and conference room.

The department has so far catalyzed 15 STEPs in different parts of the country, which have promoted nearly 788 units. More than 100 new products and technologies have been developed by the STEPs/STEP promoted entrepreneurs. STEPs are autonomous bodies registered as societies under the Societies Registration Act. 

 

Technology Business Incubator (TBI):         The need for policy instruments such as TBI has been recognized the world over for initiating technology led and knowledge driven enterprises. Studies also show that such mechanisms help not only in the growth of technology based new enterprises but also in improving their survival rate substantially. TBIs also facilitate speedy commercialization of research outputs. The TBIs besides providing a host of services to new enterprises (and also to existing SMEs in the region) facilitate an atmosphere congenial for their survival and growth. The main objective of the TBIs is to produce successful business ventures that create jobs and wealth in their region.

A TBI should be located near a source of technology and knowledge i.e. around R&D Institutions/Academic Institutions or it should have strong links with such institutions to ensure optimal use of the already existing expertise and facilities, thus keeping the cost of the TBI on lower side. Locating TBIs in such locations reduces time lag between technology development and its commercialization. Further, besides quality of tenant enterprises, the success of a TBI largely depends on its location and management.

Each TBI focus on not more than 2-3 thrust areas. A TBI can be set up in any technological (single/mix) area after thorough study and analysis. The areas may range from biotechnology, information and communication technology, design, micro-electronics, embedded systems, manufacturing, agri-business, environment and energy, etc.

As per the guidelines of the Department regarding legal status of new Technology Business Incubators it is mandatory to register the new TBIs as an autonomous body functioning as a society registered under societies act of 1860 or as a non profit making section 25 company.

NSTEDB, DST has promoted nearly 47 TBIs⁹ in the country. Some of the leading institutes like IITs, IIMs, NITs, NID, and ICRISAT have set up incubators.

The success of a TBI is judged from the efficacy of the TBI operations, number of successful enterprises, social impact created in the region and good financial health of the TBI. The TBI should be a visible and known entity in the region for stimulating new enterprises.

 

State Science & Technology Programme (SSTP):      This scheme has numerous objectives aimed at upliftment of social-economic conditions of various states through application of Science & Technology. DST effort, though catalytic, had served a very important purpose of establishing State S&T structures and gearing up these structures to assume the role of a prime mover in planning and implementing S&T activities. State S&T Councils and DST have initiated programmes where resources and technologies are being pooled together to have visible impact.

 

Assistance for Development of State Councils on S&T:        The national expenditure in S&T is predominantly through Central Government S&T agencies and ever since national independence, some amount of infrastructure has been established in the form of national laboratories, specialized S&T departments, facilities of higher education and research etc., in different parts of the country. Through the national S&T plans, several sectors of the economy have been identified where increased inputs from S&T could enhance the rate of socio-economic development of the country. In order to use the already established national infrastructure, and encourage & promote science and technology activities in the States and UTs, the Department of Science and Technology has been operating a scheme entitled, "Assistance for Development of State Councils on Science and Technology”¹⁰ since 1980. The main objective of the scheme is to assist all the States/UTs to set up State Councils on Science and Technology which in turn would help the States in formulation, planning, coordination and promotion of S&T activities within their respective States. As a result of DST's efforts, State S&T structures have been set up in all the states and Union Territories utilizing the existing national infrastructure in S&T. Several States have also formed a separate Department of Science & Technology. The State Councils are normally chaired by Chief Ministers of respective States or by an eminent scientist.

S&T Core Support of the Department aims at building up requisite S&T capabilities in the State Secretariat for cooperation under the complementary promotion effort. This support has played a very critical and important role in facilitating State S&T Councils in planning formulating implementing and coordinating scientific activities in their respective states. Department provides core support primarily for technical manpower along with minimum required support manpower. The Core Support has resulted in dovetailing various programmes of Central Scientific agencies and Departments with the programmes of State S&T Councils particularly in areas such as Science and Society Popularization of Science, Technical Entrepreneurship Development, Natural Resource Data Management system and micro-hydel generation of power. This support is provided in the form of annual grant to the concerned State S&T Councils.

State S&T Councils and DST are now initiating programmes where resources and technologies are being pooled together to have visible impact. In addition to support for setting up and strengthening S&T structures and facilitating information exchange, support is initiated for demonstration projects, replication projects and S&T studies & surveys. During the period 1998-2005, around 175 projects were supported under the programme to promote Science & Technology activities in the states.

 

Research Facilities – Autonomous Institutes & Labs:   The autonomous institutes and labs under the aegis of Department of Science and Technology are listed below with their main functions and research areas.

 

 

Table 5: Autonomous Institutes and Labs under DST with functional area

 

 

National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL)¹¹:         is an autonomous body under the aegis of Department of Science & Technology, Government of India, and is registered under the Societies Act. NABL has been established with the objective to provide Government, Industry Associations and Industry in general with a scheme for third-party assessment of the quality and technical competence of testing and calibration laboratories. Government of India has authorized NABL as the sole accreditation body for Testing and Calibration laboratories.

NABL accreditation is a formal recognition of the technical competence of a testing or calibration laboratory for a specific task following ISO/IEC 17025 Standard. This is based on third party assessment. WTO recognizes non-acceptance of test results and measurement data as Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT). Accreditation is considered to be the first essential step towards removing such technical barriers. NABL has achieved the status of APLAC (Asia Pacific Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation) MRA (Mutual Recognition Arrangement) partner and signatory to ILAC (International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation) Arrangement based on peer evaluation by a multi-disciplinary team from APLAC. This is a major step towards mutual acceptance of test results and measurement data amongst 52 accreditation bodies representing 45 countries. NABL accredited laboratories have therefore emerged as a member of global family of accredited laboratories.

NABL accreditation is currently given in the following fields:

 

 

Accredited laboratories have the responsibility of satisfying the criteria of laboratory accreditation at all times, which are verified during Surveillance and Re-assessment visits by NABL. Further the accredited laboratories should prove their technical competence by satisfactory participation in recognized Proficiency Testing programmes. In conformity with ISO/IEC 17011:2004 which determines the Quality System of NABL, the accredited laboratories can be suspended or their scope of accreditation can be reduced or even withdrawn in cases of negligence and gross non-compliance of ISO/IEC 17025 standard detected during routine or surprise Surveillance or Re-assessment.

 

Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR)

The Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR) is a part of the Ministry of Science and Technology, which was announced through a Presidential Notification, dated January 4, 1985 (74/2/1/8 Cab.) contained in the 164th Amendment of the Government of India (Allocation of Business) Rules, 1961. The Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR) has a mandate to carry out the activities relating to indigenous technology promotion, development, utilization and transfer.

The primary endeavour of DSIR is to:

• Promote R&D by the industries, support a larger cross section of small and medium industrial units to develop state-of-the art globally competitive technologies of high commercial potential
• Catalyze faster commercialization of lab-scale R&D
• Enhance the share of technology intensive exports in overall exports
• Strengthen industrial consultancy & technology management capabilities
• Establish user friendly information network to facilitate scientific and industrial research in the country

DSIR has two public funded organisations:

• National Research Development Corporation (NRDC) through which it provides a link between scientific laboratories and industrial establishments for transfer of technologies
• Central Electronics Limited (CEL) which facilitates investment in R&D.

The infrastructure facilities developed under DSIR are through R&D activities of institutes. These institutes are categories as:

• Recognized In-house R & D Institutes ²⁰
• Recognized Scientific and Industrial Research organizations ²⁰
• Public Funded organizations and other institutes registered with DSIR ²⁰

Apart from these, there are two autonomous organisations under DSIR, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and Consultancy Development Centre (CDC). Among them, CSIR is the National R&D organisation providing scientific industrial research for India’s economic growth and human welfare. It has a country-wide network of thirty-seven laboratories and eighty field centres covering fundamental and applied R&D in all areas of science and technology barring atomic research, developing and nurturing S&T human resource for the country through extra mural support and promoting scientific talent through awards, fellowships etc.

 

Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR):            The Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR) --the premier industrial R&D organization in India was constituted in 1942 by a resolution of the then Central Legislative Assembly. It is an autonomous body registered under the Registration of Societies Act of 1860. The CSIR thrust areas in the new millennium are:

• Re-engineering the organisational structure;
• Linking research to market space;
• Mobilising and Optimising the resource base;
• Creating an enabling infrastructure; and
• Investing in high quality science that will be the harbinger of future technologies.

CSIR aims to provide industrial competitiveness, social welfare, strong S&T base for strategic sectors and advancement of fundamental knowledge. CSIR has contributed towards the infrastructure in two ways:

1. Development of state of art facilities in institutes
2. New Millennium Indian Technology Leadership Initiative (NMITLI)

 

Development of state-of-art facilities in institutes:        CSIR has developed infrastructure in various fields of science and technology. The number of institutes having state of art facility according to science & technology fields is as below:

 

Table 6: CSIR Institutes according to S&T fields

Science & Technology Field	Number of Institutes
1. Aerospace	1
2. Biology And Biotechnology	6
3. Chemical Sciences	6
4. Ecology & Environment	7
5. Energy	5
6. Healthcare, Drugs & Pharmaceuticals	14
7. Information Dissemination & Products	2
8. Materials	6
9. Earth Resources and Hazards Assessment & Mitigation	5
10. Electronics & Instrumentation	2
11. Food & Food Processing	3
12. Housing & Construction	4
13. Leather	1
14. Metals, Minerals & Manufacturing	5

 

Infrastructure and achievements of major institutes and labs under CSIR in the areas of space, biotechnology and chemical science are:

 

Table 7: Infrastructure and achievements of CSIR Institutes in the S & T area

Institutes	Infrastructure and Achievements
AREA:  AEROSPACE
National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL), Bangalore	Nilakantan National Trisonic Aerodynamic Facilities (NTAF) with three wind tunnels used for testing of aircraft, missiles and launch vehicles. Fatigue Testing Facility for fighter aircraft life extension programmes. Acoustic Test Facility for acoustic qualification of satellites and launch vehicles. Composite Structures Laboratory for design and fabrication of composite fins, rudders, fuselage, etc. for fighter aircraft. Black box readout facility.
AREA: BIOLOGY & BIOTECHNOLOGY
Centre for Cellular & Molecular Biology (CCMB), Hyderabad	The major R&D programmes of CCMB are under the disciplines of Biomedicine & Biotechnology; Genetics & Evolution; Cell Biology & Developmental Biology; Molecular Biology and Biochemistry & Biophysics. Facilities at CCMB are: Structural Biology Facility Flow Cytometry Facility  Proteomics Facility  National Facility for Transgenic and Gene Knock-Out Mice  NMR-Micro imaging and NMR-Spectroscopy Facility BSL4 (Biological Safety Level 4) Facility
Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (IGIB), Delhi	DNA sequencing & genotyping facility, protein sequencing facility, microarray facility, computer facility for Genome Informatics and an oligonucleotide synthesizer. There is a robotic workstation, Flow Aided Cell Sorter (FACS), MALDI- TOF facility and Biacore 2000 for ligand interaction studies.
Indian Institute of Integrative Medicine, formely Regional Research Laboratory (RRL), Jammu	Crude Drug Repository and Herbarium. A well stocked herbal drug repository housing a total of 1000 crude drug samples of authenticated plant parts is a referral facility accessible to pharmaceutical industry, traders, medicinal practitioners, natural product chemists and scientists. The library houses more than 18,000 specimens representing 2800 species, 1050 genera and 150 families of Angiosperms, Gymnosperms and Pteridophytes. Digitalization of this herbarium has been initiated.
Industrial Technology Research Centre (ITRC) Lucknow	Sophisticated equipments like atomic absorption spectrometer, inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrophotometer and UV/VIS microplate spectrophotometer, beta scintillation counter, flow cell cytometer, gel documentation system, Comet image analysis system and robotic liquid handling system. ITRC has received accreditation from National Accreditation Board for testing and calibration Laboratories (NABL), Department of Science & Technology from December 2000 for chemical and biological testing.
Institute of Microbial Technology (IMTECH) Chandigarh	Microbial Type Culture Collection and Gene Bank: a depository to supply authentic microbial cultures and to provide related services to scientists. It has five sections, namely, actinomycetes, bacteria, fungi, yeasts and plasmids Biochemical Engineering Research & Process Development Centre: facilities for evaluation and bench marking of any indigenous or imported fermentation process know-how. There are several laboratory scale fermenters, a 150-litre fermenter and a computer-controlled 1500 litre fermentation pilot plant.  Bioinformatics Centre on Protein Engineering: interlink all the specialized centres through a national bio-information network.
Central Institute of Medicinal & Aromatic Plants(CIMAP), Lucknow	National Gene Bank on Medicinal and Aromatic Plants. Different plant accessions are collected and analyzed at CIMAP and conserved in the National Gene Bank. equipped with state-of-the-art biotesting facilities and genomics facility
AREA: CHEMICAL SCIENCE
National Chemical Laboratory (NCL), Pune	The major R&D programmes of NCL relate to the areas of catalysis, biotechnology, and polymers and other high performance materials. High throughput screening system (Biomek 2000); Accelerated solvent extractor (Dionex ASE 300); HT evaporation system (Genevac HT 12)
Indian Institute of Chemical Technology ( IICT), Hyderabad	The major R&D programmes of IICT relate to the development of technologies for pesticides, drugs, organic intermediates and fine chemicals, catalysts, polymers and organic coatings, utilization of low grade coals, and value-added products from vegetable oils. Process design and mechanical engineering design form an integral part of technology development and transfer
Central Fuel Research Institute(CFRI), Dhanbad	The major R&D programmes of CFRI are directed towards improving efficiency in power generation by employing more efficient power generation cycles, including the co-generation system; augmenting the production to better quality indigenous reductants for steel making and other metallurgical purposes; and developing coal-based industrial carbons of different specifications; Reducing dependence on petroleum products through conversion of coal/organic wastes into synthetic fuel and other chemicals/feed stocks; and carrying out the national task of resource quality assessment in alliance with the coal producing industries. Major facilities are: Gas chromatographs; Autoscan 60Porosimeter; F.T. synthesis, single tube reactor; batch autoclaves; electrolytic hydrogen generator; laser particle size analyser; 40 tph coal washing pilot plant

 

 

Database of Scientific Instruments & Components Manufacturers:       Central Scientific Instruments Organisation (CSIO) ⁴⁷ is a premier national laboratory dedicated to research, design and development of scientific and industrial instruments. CSIO is a multi-disciplinary organization having well equipped laboratories manned by highly qualified and well trained staff with infrastructural facilities in the areas of microelectronics, optics, applied physics, electronics, mechanical engineering, etc.

Large number of instruments ranging from simple to highly sophisticated ones, have been designed and developed by the Institute and their know-how’s  have been passed on to the industry for commercial exploitation. CSIO has contributed substantially towards the growth of the scientific instruments industry in the country, and thus enjoys high degree of credibility among the users of the instruments as well as the instrument industry.

One of the continuing activities of CSIO has been preparation of database of Scientific Instruments & Components Manufacturers all over India. The Directory contains information regarding Chief Executives, registered Offices, Correspondence Offices, Works, Websites, Quality Certificates, Manufacturing Programmes, etc.

The Data is available to users in the form of User-Friendly searchable Database on CDROM as well as hard-bound editions. The Print Version of the Directory is a 824 page volume (size 8.5”x 11”) containing information about 1,676 manufacturers in India making nearly 8,000 products.

The demo version can be downloaded from CSIO website at URL:http://www.csio.res.in/

 

New Millennium Indian Technology leadership Initiative (NMITLI)²⁵:        is the largest public–private–partnership effort within the R&D domain in the country. It synergizes the best competencies of public funded R&D institutions, academia and private industry. NMITLI has evolved 57 largely networked projects in diverse areas such as, Biotechnology, Bioinformatics, Drugs & Pharmaceuticals, Chemicals, Materials, Information and Communication Technology and Energy. These projects involve 80 industry partners & 270 R&D groups from different institutes. These 57 projects cumulatively have had an outlay of approximately Rs 500 crore.

NMITLI aims to catalyze innovation centred scientific and technological developments as a vehicle, to attain for Indian industry, a global leadership position by synergizing the best competencies of publicly funded R&D institutions, academia and private industry.

Distinctive Features of the Programme are:

• A Proactive Programme – The programme identifies the areas for development based on national consultation and invites best partners from institutions, academia and private sector to play a role in the development.
• Type of Project- Both ‘push’ and ‘pull’ type of projects are evolved under NMITLI, which are :
  • Nationally Evolved Projects (NEP)
  • Industry Originated Projects (IOP) 
• PPP mode- all projects are built in public private partnership mode.
• S & T Inputs- High quality technical inputs are provided at both projects development as well as at implementation stage.
• Monitoring & Review System- A two-tier tight monitoring system is introduced to ensure realization of the objectives and deliverables.

The programme has developed 57 projects so far, which cover diverse areas. Some of the projects areas are:

• Two orders of magnitude improved liquid crystals for flat panel display devices;
• New targets and markers for cancer using genomics and proteomics;
• Stimuli sensitive polymeric nano-particle based advanced drug delivery systems for cancer, diabetes and anti-bacteria;
• 5 & 25 kw decentralized power packs;
• Latent M. Tuberculosis: new targets, drug delivery system, bio-enhancers and therapeutics;
• Enhanced productivity in cement manufacturing through improved granular processing and resource conservation;
• Biotechnology replacing chemical process in leather sector (Phase I & II); and more…

 

Department of Biotechnology (DBT)

The setting up of a separate Department of Biotechnology (DBT), under the Ministry of Science and Technology in 1986 gave a new impetus to the development of the field of modern biology and biotechnology in India. A unique feature of the department has been the deep involvement of the scientific community of the country through a number of technical task forces, advisory committees and individual experts in identification, formulation, implementation and monitoring of various programmes and activities.

In India, more than a decade of concerted effort in research and development in identified areas of modern biology and biotechnology has given rich dividends. The proven technologies at the laboratory level have been scaled up and demonstrated in field. A strong base of indigenous capabilities has been created. To form a major research and commercial endeavour for socio-economic development in the next millennium, the field of biotechnology requires new innovations and applications. To ensure this DBT has built the infrastructure facilities in biotechnology and upcoming field of bioinformatics and also Biotech Parks for promotion of Public Private Partnerships.

1. Infrastructure Facilities for Biotechnology
2. Infrastructure facilities for Bioinformatics
3. Biotechnology Parks and Incubators

 

Infrastructure Facilities for Biotechnology:        The overall objective of the Infrastructure Facility for Biotechnology¹² scheme is to promote establishment of repositories for conservation/preservation of living organisms including microbes both useful and harmful in agriculture, human health, animal husbandry and bio-industries as well as establish sophisticated biotech facilities for research, training, services, including supply of reagents/materials. DBT have established national facilities, repository, animal houses facility, genetic engineering and strain manipulation facility and other facilities for various fields in biotechnology.

The major facilities are:

• National Facility for Marine Cyanobacteria, Bharatidasan University, Tiruchirapalli
• Tissue Culture & Cryopreservation Repository at NBPGR, New Delhi
• Repository of Medicinal and Aromatic Plants at CIMAP, Lucknow.
• Animal House Facility at CDRI, Lucknow and  NIN , Hyderabad
• Centre for Genetic Engineering and Strain Manipulation , MKU, Madurai
• International Depository Authority at Institute of Microbial Technology, Chandigarh
• Repository for Filarial Parasites and Reagents at MGIMS, Sevagram
• DNA Sequencing facility at University of Delhi South Campus
• Drosophila Repository and Research Facility at IIT Kanpur
• Biochemical Engineering Research and Process Development Centre at Institute of Microbial Technology , Chandigarh
• National Facility for State Isotope Discrimination Studies at University of Agricultural Sciences, Bangalore
• FACS Facility at CCMB Hyderabad
• NMR Facility at TIFR, Mumbai and IISc Bangalore

 

Infrastructure facilities for Bioinformatics:       Growth of biotechnology has accelerated particularly during the last decade due to path breaking advancements in biology and new technologies that produce large high quality data. One such advancement is the full genome sequencing projects, including human genome, have produced very large data. The analysis of such large data and extraction of knowledge from this data is possible only with the help of new algorithms and computing intensive techniques. Thus biologists need to use almost every new technical development in information technology and computer sciences and intelligent application to solve complex biological problems leading the development of multi-disciplinary area called bioinformatics. The growth in full genomic sequencing, structural genomics, proteomics, micro-array etc. will be very slow without application of bioinformatics. In fact usefulness of these areas to solve complex biological problems will be limited without bioinformatics and thus very high importance to Bioinformatics.

The infrastructure facilities¹³ developed by DBT for bioinformatics are:

1. Biotechnology Information System (BTIS) : A National Bioinformatics Network
2. BIOGRID INDIA
3. Super Computer Facility

 

Biotechnology Information System (BTIS):      India was the first country in the world to establish in 1987, a Biotechnology Information System (BTIS)¹³ network to create an infrastructure that enables it to harness, biotechnology through the application of Bioinformatics. The Department of Biotechnology (DBT) has taken up this infrastructure development project and created a distributed network at a very low cost. BTIS is today recognized as one of the major scientific networks in the world dedicated to provide the-state-of-the-art infrastructure, education, manpower and tools in bioinformatics.

The BTIS network¹⁵ consists of 10 Distributed Information Centres (DICs), 50 Sub-Distributed Information Centres (Sub-DICs) and a Biotechnology Information Centre (BTIC), which is the apex centre for the BTISnet at Department of Biotechnology.

 

Table 8:  Distributed Information Centres of BTIS

DISTRIBUTED INFORMATION CENTRES (DICs)
Anna University, Chennai	Centre for Cellular & Molecular Biology, Hyderabad
Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi	Institute of Microbial Technology, Chandigarh
Kerala Agriculture University, Thrissur	M.S. University of Baroda, Baroda
National Brain Research Centre (NBRC), Gurgaon	National Institute of Immunology, New Delhi
Pondicherry University, Pondicherry	University of Calcutta, Calcutta

 

The Department has established six major Interactive Graphics Facilities to promote developmental activities in Bioinformatics. These centres have been networked through satellite communication systems by installing the latest computer and communication infrastructure available in India. The computer communication network, linking all the bioinformatics centres, is playing a vital role in the success of the bioinformatics programme.

 

Table 9: Interactive Graphics Facilities Centres (BTIS)

Interactive Graphics Facilities
Bose Institute, Kolkatta	Jawahar Lal Nehru University, New Delhi
University of Pune, Pune	Madurai Kamraj University, Madurai
Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore	National Institute of Immunology, New Delhi

 

A supercomputing facility has also been set up at IIT Delhi specifically for the Genomics and Proteomics activities.

 

EMBnet:        The European Molecular Biology Network (EMBnet), is a science-based group of 37 collaborating nodes throughout Europe and a number of nodes outside Europe.  A national node of EMBnet has been established at the Centre of DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics (CDFD), Hyderabad. The EMBnet India Node provides bioinformatics services in the form of browsing bio-molecular sequence databanks, macro molecular structure databanks, genome and other useful databases. It provides in-house services for the comparison and analysis of sequence/structure/genome data protein 3-D modelling molecular graphics. The Node also conducts in-house training for the use of commercial software such as, GCG and Insight II. The research interests focus on protein sequence & structure analysis, protein modelling, drug design, genome analysis and databases.

Four mirror sites for harbouring important biological databasesare being established at IISc, JNU, Poona University, and IMTECH to promote and support R&D activities in Genomics and Proteomics, the two emerging fields of biotechnology requiring critical support of genomic databases.

Mirror sites of several internationally recognized genomic databases such as EMBnet, PDB, GDB, EBI and Plant Genome databases were established in India under the National Jai Vigyan S&T mission.

 

BIOGRID INDIA:        Research in biotechnology, which is highly knowledge and capital intensive, has generated a deluge of information in this decade. To make use of this information effectively there is a need for high speed and large bandwidth network. Towards this end, the Department has successfully established a high-speed and high-bandwidth network in the form of Virtual Public Network (VPN) named as BIOGRID INDIA¹³. Eleven nodes have been established in the first phase, which are actively pursuing bioinformatics activities such as human resource development and R&D in bioinformatics besides, dissemination of biotechnology information to researchers in the country. The nodes are interconnected through 2mbps dedicated leased circuit line at each location and 4mbps Internet bandwidth shared from the central server by all the nodes. The BIOGRID allows exchange of database & softwares which have been created/acquired by the individual centres/nodes of BTIS. This resource sharing helps in enhancing the value and usefulness of the BTIS.

The BIOGRID nodes are established at:

1. JNU Bioinformatics Centre, JNU New Mehrauli Road.
2. Rice Genome Initiative Department of Plant Molecular Biology, South Campus B.J. Road, University of Delhi.
3. School of Biological Sciences, Madurai Kamraj University, Madurai.
4. Department of Physics, Indian Institute of Science Malleswaram, Bangalore.
5. National Institute of Immunology, Shahid Jeet Singh Marg JNU.
6. Institute of Microbial Technology, Sector 39A Chandigarh.
7. Department of Biotechnology, CGO Complex, Lodhi Road, New Delhi.
8. Bioinformatics Centre University of Pune, Ganeshkhind Pune.
9. Centre for Biochemical Technology, Delhi University Campus, Mall Road near Jubilee Hall Delhi.
10. National Brain Research Centre, Gurgaon, Haryana.
11. Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics, ECIL Road, Nacharam, Hyderabad.

Super Computer Facility:      The Supercomputing Facility¹⁴ for Bioinformatics & Computational Biology (SCFBio), IIT Delhi, was created in July 2002, with funding from the Department of Biotechnology, Department of Science & Technology, Council of Scientific & Industrial Research, and Indian Institute of Technology Delhi with the following mandate.

• To establish a nodal facility for supercomputing, accessible to the Bioinformatics community
• To develop novel scientific methods and new software for genome analysis, ab-initio protein structure prediction and active site directed drug design

The facility is working on all major aspects of Bioinformatics viz. Genome Analysis, Protein Structure Prediction and Drug design.

 

Infrastructure:      The facility has following resources

1. 70 Ultra Sparc III Cu 900 MHz processor cluster over a Gigabit switch
2.  104 Processor AMD cluster over a Gigabit switch
3. Two 16 node P4 processor clusters, A 4 processor SGI ORIGIN-200
4.  Four Sun Fire V20z Server
5.  Sun StorEdge 6120 Array
6.  50 KVA UPS
7.  Tape Library (legato backup server)
8.  2mbps dedicated internet connectivity

The aggregate compute power of the facility is over 600 Gflops and the data storage capacity is over 4.0 Terabytes. Facility is continuously upgrading its resources to provide better services to the people who would like to access its resources

 

Biotechnology Parks and Incubators:          Apart from infrastructure development in biotechnology and bioinformatics, DBT in collaboration with states governments has developed Biotechnology Parks²² for the promotion of Biotech start-up companies under Public-Private Partnership (PPP) programmes.

Biotech Park²³ is an infrastructure developed and designed for a concentration of high-end research, academic research and research related businesses in the field of Biotechnology. Businesses and organizations in parks focus on the manufacturing, product advancement and innovation and other activities related to biotechnology. The state Governments departments, Department of Biotechnology (DBT) and business organisations work under Public Private Partnership Programmes to promote the development of biotechnology and promote upcoming companies. Induced cluster development started in 1980’s in US. These clusters emerged as areas which had companies operating in same sector, where upcoming start up companies were established through venture capital; and this propelled the movement of skilled labour into the same area for better job prospects.

The Biotechnology parks provide several advantages and act as a geographic cluster of life sciences industry, research institutions, science-technology academia and other amenities of scientific and general purpose. The parks provide R&D facilities and manufacturing infrastructure of international standards. Further, they offer affordable space, incentives and services for start-up, mid-stage, late-stage and manufacturing pharma/biotech companies seeking to develop innovative products and services; attract international organizations to locate their R&D activities in the parks, create and maintain international and national linkages. With a large number of international biotech and pharma companies initiating their R&D and manufacturing operations in India, the demand for world-class infrastructure offered by biotech parks has increased significantly.

 

Table 10: Focus areas of the Biotech Parks

HEALTH CARE:

Human & Animal health care products including therapeutic aids, immunodiagnostics, biosensors, vaccines, gene therapy, monoclonal antibodies, neutraceuticals and cosmetics.

AGRICULTURE:

Improvement in the quality & yield of crops, horticulture and forest tree species, bio-pesticides and bio-fertilizers, processed foods and quality enhancers.

ENVIRONMENT:

Bioremediation, safe disposal of waste.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICATION:

Plants as bioreactors, enzymes, chemicals and polymers.

ENERGY:

Bio fuels, renewable energy sources

 

Indian biotech industry is predominantly distributed over six major regions in India-Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai, Pune-Mumbai, Delhi and Ahmedabad-Vadodara. Of these, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Pune-Mumbai, and Ahmedabad-Vadodara have been natural biotechnology strongholds. Having recognized this, respective state governments have provided an impetus for accelerated growth of the local biotech industry by establishing biotech parks and offering incentives to biotech enterprises. Development of biotechnology parks in India began in the year 2000 with ICICI Knowledge Park, Hyderabad followed by S P Biotech Park.

While the support of state agency was necessary for setting-up of Biotech Parks in the initial phase, private infrastructure developers have, of late, shown interest in setting up the same.

The biotech sector has grown at an impressive pace in India over the last five years with Biotech Parks making a significant contribution to revenue growth from Biotech industries. The regions having a higher concentration of operational biotech parks have a greater share in the overall revenue figures reported. The infrastructure and facilities at these parks have attracted domestic as well as multinational companies to set up base. There are 7 operational state-supported biotech parks in India while others are at different stages of development. All of the operational parks are based on a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model.

 

Table 11: List of Biotechnology Parks in India