Union Minister of State for Science and Technology Y.S. Chowdary wants State-funded research institutions to become financially autonomous without depending on government funding.
Addressing media persons after his maiden visit to CSIR-Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Indian Institute of Chemical Technology as Union Minister, he said he would like to recommend to Union government in this regard. “All these institutions should become autonomous and self-sufficient. They should not be depending on the government”, he added.
Such research institutions have priceless asset in the form of IPR, he said and added that he was keen to remove any bottlenecks and reduce red-tape in the institutions so that they could reduce wasteful time and expenditure and improve efficiency.
He said one of his priorities was to improve research activity across the country. As part of promoting research, government would encourage establishment of more incubation centres in universities and colleges. “We want to compete internationally and with international universities”. Although there was no need to re-invent the wheel, research was continuous activity and there was no full-stop for it. He would also like to see more CSIR research institutions coming up across the country.
Setting up of incubation centres would also induce interest in science among youngsters, he added. The Union Minister has asked the directors of CCMB and IICT to prepare a blueprint and a five-year rolling vision document. Such a document would focus on the institution’s vision for the next five years while recording what was achieved the past year.
He said he intended to bring about a big change in “every place”.
