GUWAHATI, June 30 - The Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR) conducted a two-day workshop here on June 28 and 29 with the Federation of Industry & Commerce of North Eastern Region (FINER) as industry partner.
The CSIR team comprised top scientists of the country spearheading industrial research was led by Dr Girish Sahni, Director General of CSIR and Dr Sudeep Kumar, Head, Mission Directorate, CSIR HQ. Senior scientists from CSIR-laboratories from across the country participated and gave presentations on industry-specific topics.
Naveen Verma, Secretary, Ministry of DoNER and SN Pradhan, Joint Secretary, DoNER, addressed the gathering through video conferencing.
Verma, in his keynote address, emphasised the need to harness the immense potential of the region in terms of natural and human resources through technology interventions and touched upon various schemes of Central ministries and the supportive role played by DoNER through the North Eastern Council and NEDFi.
He offered all assistance, both financial and technical, for development of technology-based entrepreneurship and up-scaling of existing industries.
CSIR Director General Dr Sahni, in his welcome address, stressed the need for the region to be exposed to innovative and cost-effective technologies so that the industry could be competitive on pan-India basis.
Amit Jain, industrialist and past vice-chairman of FINER, and directors RK More, Chinmoy Sharma and Rajeev Agarwal spoke on the aspirations of entrepreneurs and outlined requirements for technology interventions to mitigate un-met challenges.
The workshop consisted of sector-specific sessions and each session had presentations from CSIR scientists and speakers from the industry followed by interactive sessions. The sectors covered during the two days included Healthcare & Nutraceuticals, Food & Food Processing, Aromatic Plants, Herbal Products, Floriculture, Mushroom Cultivation, Leather Products, Water filtration, Waste Water and Solid Waste Management, Chemicals & Petrochemicals, Civil Infrastructure and Building Materials.
The CSIR speakers showcased a range of products and processes developed in each of these sectors and pointed to the immense potential in the North East due to its vast biodiversity, requirement of housing and roads.
Speakers from the industry included Samrat Deka of SRD Group, Amrit Deorah, Aasray Foods, M Krishna Saikia, Green Cover Overseas, Gunajit Brahma, Jeev Anksh of Eco Products, Pranjal Baruah of Mushroom Development Foundation, Avik Kumar Sharma of Taurus Industries, Pranjal Barua, Chief Manager, BCPL, Vikas Jain, Colortek Meghalaya and Rajeev Agarwal of Bitchem and SM Group. The two-day deliberations concluded with a panel discussion moderated by Dr Sudeep Kumar.
