TIFR to set up ICTS near Bangalore

Bangalore, Oct 18 (UNI) The IT hub which also boasts of top scientific institutes will get another feather in its cap with the proposed setting up of the International Centre for Theoretical Sciences (ICTS) by the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR).

The Karnataka government has provided 17.35 acres of land to the TIFR near the Bengaluru International Airport about 40 km from the city.

ICTS, which is the first of its kind in the country, has already begun its activities at various institutions and locations in the country. Once the campus was ready all its activities would be held in the city campus. It would have a world standard set up at a cost of Rs 200 crore which is expected to be ready in two years time.

Briefing reporters on the Centre, ICTS Director Prof Spentawadia said Indian science and technology are presently posed for a leap forward and these goals had to be driven by new knowledge and a high level of skills and ICTS could handsomely contribute to this process.

ICTS which would emerge as the 'Ideating Centre' for the world's top scientists in theoretical sciences would have a township that could house them during the workshops and conferences that would last for weeks, he said.

"One of the critical factors in making good research happen is interaction. Scientific research requires an environment that encourages sustained interaction between world-class scientists and we want to this at this campus" he said.

The Centre would provide a platform to organise scientific programmes in traditional areas like biological physics, computational science, complex systems, fluids and interface between cosmology, particle physics and string theory, new emerging areas of mathematics with applications to biology, finance and other fields.

Prof Spentwadia said in addition ICTS would work in the sphere of education by running refresher and training programmes for young faculty and graduate students with conviction that such programmes would evaluate the standards of teaching and research in Indian universities.

TIFR, coming under Ministry of Atomic Energy held by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, was set up in 1945 by distinguished scientist Dr Homi Bhabha is internationally renowned for frontier areas of the sciences. It first began its operations from the city operating from a lab at the IISc before being shifted to then Bombay.

UNI RS MV GM1826