IITB powerhouse of global research: Kalam

Mumbai, Sep 6: Former President, A P J Abdul Kalam said the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay (IITB) can become a research powerhouse of the world benchmarked against the top 10 research institutes, if a few brilliant minds from the Institute are provided with the right type of scientific environment to pursue research of their choice. In his inaugural address as the chief guest after kick starting the golden jubilee celebrations of the elite school here yesterday, the former President suggested that the IITB should nurture small startup companies with novel ideas to create global giants leading to internationally competitive innovative industry in India.

He said the premier school should also create a flexible cross-disciplinary structure in the campus, breaking down the 'Berlin walls' that traditionally exist between departments to transform technologists from employment seekers to employment generators.

In order to achieve the above goals, Dr Kalam pinpointed that IITB should encourage faculty members to start collaborative research with the top 10 industries and universities of the world.

On the smoldering issue of energy sources, Dr Kalam drew attention that the transportation sector in India is the largest energy consumer. About, 1,20,000 (24 billion USD) of oil is imported to support the Indian economy and security.

Ironically, the indigenous oil production meets only 25 per cent of the total requirement. Hence there is an urgent requirement to find alternative fuel and an energy source since the cost of crude oil has gone up to 78 per barrel USD, he added.

Dr Kalam emphasized that one of the promising areas for the country is production of bio-fuels. However, work on hydrogen-based fuel and electricity powered vehicles are also a must simultaneously, added the former President.

Dr Kalam also advocated the use of bio-fuel energy through improvement of research to advance the productivity of seed and extraction techniques and expand the area under bio-diesel crops to achieve 30 million tonnes of oil by 2020 and 60 million tonnes by 2030.

In the context of municipal waste, Dr Kalam called upon the scientific community to fully use the available technologies to generate power from municipal wastes. Citing various studies, he stated that 6,000 MW of power can be generated by setting up 900 electric power plants across the country, which can be fuelled by municipal waste.

Finally, Dr Kalam called upon the students, young research scholars and faculty members of the IITB by administering an oath on courage, ''The courage to think different, to invent, to travel into an unexplored path, to discover the impossible and to combat the problems and succeed.'' Set up by an Act of Parliament, the IITB was established in 1958.

Today the Institute is synonymous as the fountainhead of new ideas and for innovation in technology and science. IITB began its golden jubilee celebrations to enter the 50th year of its existence from September 5, 2007 to March 10, 2009, the day when the foundation stone was laid by the first Prime Minster Jawaharlal Nehru.

UNI