Date:09/09/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/09/09/stories/2007090951650300.htm

Karnataka - Bangalore

‘No technological development is possible without research’

Staff Reporter

— Photo: Bhagya Prakash K.

Memorable occasion: Chief of Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal F.H. Major (centre), Director, NAL, A.R. Upadhya (right) and the former Scientific Adviser to Defence Minister V.K. Atre at the Foundation Day celebrations of NAL in Bangalore on Friday.

BANGALORE: V.K. Aatre, former Scientific Adviser to the Defence Minister, here on Friday charged that the Indian aerospace industry was incapable of packaging research done in the academic institutions.

He was presiding over the Foundation Day celebrations of the National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL).

Investment

He cautioned that the industries that did not invest in research and development were not likely to become technology developers.

“You can imitate technology. But sooner or later, you need to innovate through academic research,” Dr. Aatre noted, adding the aerospace industries simply did not have their own R&D labs.

Dr. Aatre said the country had only one R&D institution of some calibre, the Indian Institute of Science (IISc.). “Such academic research programmes produce very strong technologies,” he said.

Ninety per cent of the academic research was sponsored by governments and not the industry. This was the case worldwide.

“We need to change our attitude towards academic research. The number of people doing science and technology research is dwindling. This is a disservice by the IT industry. But it is also due to the lack of a sound policy,” he noted.

He said although the pharmaceutical industry had grown, the hardcore industries were lagging behind in research.