Karnataka

Sixth edition of CISCON

Manipal: M. Umapathy, Head of the Department of ICE, National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirapalli, said on Friday that focussed research was needed in the control instrumentation field.

He was speaking at the inauguration of the sixth annual Control Instrumentation System Conference, CISCON 09, organised by the Manipal Institute of Technology here.

Prof. Umpathy said that there was nothing wrong in dealing with broad ideas. But the only problem was that students and researchers might not get anywhere chasing broad ideas. Ultimately, research should lead to the manufacture of a product, which would be beneficial to society.

In western countries, both industry and academia worked in close cooperation. It was necessary to do the same in India. The Manipal Institute of Technology had a unique opportunity to do research in the biomedical field as Kasturba Medical College was on the Manipal University campus. The MIT could even start a course in biomedical instrumentation, Prof. Umpathy said.

Vice-Chancellor of Manipal University Rajasekharan Warrier said that any research could be successful only if there was good team work. The problem in India was that people were not used to working as a team. There was too much compartmentalisation and hierarchy. People in higher positions did not like to work with their juniors.

“But they forget that every cog in the wheel has a role to play”, he said.

Manipal University, under its Bottom of the Pyramid programme in association with Phillips, was concentrating on research and innovation of new products, Dr. Warrier said.

Director of MIT Somnath Mishra presided over the function. Head of the Department of Instrumentation and Control Engineering at the MIT V.I. George was present.

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