Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR) conducted a two-day workshop at Guwahati on June 28-29 with Federation of Industry & Commerce of North Eastern (FINER) as the industry partner.

During the workshop, senior scientists from CSIR laboratories from across India participated and made presentations on industry specific topics with solutions for challenges faced in the Northeast region.

The CSIR team comprised of top scientists of the country spearheading industrial research and was led by director general at CSIR Girish Sahni and head mission directorate at CSIR Sudeep Kumar.

FINER, the apex industry body of the Northeast region played a key role in creating a platform for entrepreneurs of the region to share their experiences and to highlight the unmet challenges and expectations from the scientific community. Secretary at Ministry of DoNER, Naveen Verma, and joint secretary at DoNER SN Pradhan addressed the gathering through video conferencing. Verma in his address emphasized 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 upscaling of existing industries.

Director general at CSIR, GisrishSahni, in his welcome address emphasized the urgent need of the region to be exposed to innovative and cost-effective technologies so that the industry can be competitive on pan India basis. He urged the scientists to identify deliverables and work cohesively with industry on result-oriented and time-bound basis.

Industrialist and past vice chairman at FINER Amit Jain, directors RK More, Chinmoy Sharma and Rajeev Agarwal spoke on the aspirations of entrepreneurs and outlined requirements for technology interventions to mitigate challenges.

The workshop consisted of sector specific sessions with each session having presentations from CSIR scientists, 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.

CSIR speakers showcased a range of products and processes developed in each of these sectors and pointed to the immense potential in the northeast due to its vast bio diversity, requirement of housing and roads. The region’s proneness to earthquakes, floods and landslides presents enormous opportunity and scope for technology interventions in civil constructions and modern building materials.

Speakers from the industry included entrepreneurs Samrat Deka of SRD Group, Amrit Deorah, Krishna Saikia, Gunajit Brahma, Pranjal Baruah, Avik Kumar Sharma, Taurus Industries, Pranjal Barua, Vikas Jain and Rajeev Agarwal.

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