NM-ICPS mission led to a significant outcome at all levels, hubs key to technology translation: DST Secretary

The 3rd National Workshop of Technology Innovation in Cyber-Physical Systems (TIPS) highlighted the importance of the Technology Innovation Hubs (TIHs) set up by the under the National Mission on Inter disciplinary Cyber-physical Systems (NM-ICPS), in bringing about technology translation in the area.

“The mission hubs have been established in the best technical institutions of the country at 25 places, and they have been working on all important aspects of cyber-physical systems like agriculture, energy, water, transport and so on. After a period of 4 years, it can be seen that the mission has led to a significant outcome in terms of not only the technologies and the products that have been developed, but also scientific publications in high-impact journals,” said Professor Abhay Karandikar, Secretary, Department of Science and Technology (DST) at the valedictory session of the workshop.

He urged to the technologists associated with the hub to work on translations of technology into practice in making the country self-reliant in critical areas.

Dr Akhilesh Gupta, Senior Adviser, DST and Secretary Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB) emphasised on the need to have more collaboration between the hubs and also to align with other ministries & departments with more focus on promoting and setting up start-ups.

C3iHub, a cyber-security Technology Innovation Hub (TIH) of The Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur (IITK) hosted the 3rd National Workshop on Technology Innovation in Cyber-Physical Systems (TIPS). The workshop was organized by the Department of Science & Technology (DST), Government of India, under the National Mission on Interdisciplinary Cyber-Physical Systems (NM-ICPS).

Prof. S Ganesh, Officiating Director, IIT Kanpur said that the C3i Hub at IIT Kanpur has been deploying a two-pronged approach through training students to create a dedicated cadre of cyber security professionals providing hands-on training to executives of utilities so that they can be aware of cyber security threats, and how to prevent such attacks.”

“The C3iHub which is one of the 25 TIHs is the first of its kind Cyber Security Center in India, that is in the process of building solutions to safeguard critical infrastructure such as water and sewage systems, power grid, nuclear plants, and, rockets and missile control,” said Prof. Manindra Agarwal, Project Director C3iHub, IIT Kanpur.

Dr. Ekta Kapoor, Mission Director, NM-ICPS and Head, FFT Division, DST said that the mission has been successful in achieving its aims of making India a leading player in CPS technologies, bringing about translation of CPS technologies for societal and commercial use, and in nurturing startups, increasing opportunities in the job market and also producing next generation technocrats in CPS technologies.

The National Mission on Interdisciplinary Cyber-Physical Systems (NM-ICPS) was launched to be implemented by Department of Science &Technology (DST) in December 2018. The Mission addresses the ever increasing technological requirements of the society, and takes into account the international trends and road maps of leading countries for the next generation technologies.

As part of the Mission implementation, 25 Technology Innovation Hubs (TIHs) have been established in advanced technologies in reputed institutes across the country. These TIHs focus on technology development and translation, human resource and skill development, entrepreneurship and start-ups development, and international collaborative research. For effective implementation of the Mission and to carry out the mandated activities by the TIHs, a series of workshops are being conducted for direct interaction between the Mission Office and its Expert Committee members and the TIHs.

Source : https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1965279