Context
The first-of-its-kind research initiative called ‘Fund for Industrial Research Engagement (FIRE)’is launched by the Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB), a statutory body of Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India, in collaboration with Intel India.
About the Fund for Industrial Research Engagement (FIRE) initiative
- SERB-FIRE is the first-of-its-kind initiative to advance deep tech-based research in India.
- It is a novel initiative to bring together industry and academia on a common platform to exchange ground-breaking ideas and co-promote innovative research.
- It will increase research opportunities in the field of Artificial Intelligence (AI)/Machine Learning (ML), platform systems, circuits & architecture, Internet of Things (IoT), materials & devices, security, and so on from edge to cloud.
- The FIRE program is a joint government and industry initiative with a co-funding mechanism.
Significance of the initiative:
- It aims to transform the culture of research in India and strengthen the technology ecosystem.
- The Indian research community will soon be able to pursue industry-relevant research opportunities in the areas of deep technologies that are novel, transformative, and can have a ground-breaking impact on a national scale.
- It is a step towards promoting research with Public-Private Partnerships as elaborated in the draft Science, Technology and Innovation Policy 2021.
- The program intends to select highly impactful research projects in every cycle which have breakthrough potential at a national or global level.
- It will support the best researchers in academia with funding, mentoring, and industry connections.
Draft Science, Technology and Innovation Policy 2021
- STIP will lead to the establishment of a National STI Observatory that will act as a central repository for all kinds of data related to and generated from the STI ecosystem.
- A future-looking, all-encompassing Open Science Framework will be built to provide access to scientific data, information, knowledge, and resources to everyone in the country and all who are engaging with the Indian STI ecosystem on an equal partnership basis.
- Strategies to improve STI education making it inclusive at all levels and more connected with the economy and society will be developed through processes of skill-building, training, and infrastructure development.
- Higher Education Research Centres (HERC) and Collaborative Research Centres (CRC) will be established to provide research inputs to policymakers and bring together stakeholders.
- Hybrid funding models with enhanced participation from public and private sectors will be created through the Advanced Missions in Innovative Research Ecosystem (ADMIRE) initiative.
- To ensure systematic governance of the expanded STI financing landscape, an STI Development Bank will be set up to facilitate a corpus fund for investing in direct long-term investments in select strategic areas.
- Research and Innovation Excellence Frameworks (RIEF) will be developed to enhance the quality of research.
- An institutional architecture to integrate Traditional Knowledge Systems (TKS) and grassroots innovation into the overall education, research, and innovation system will be established.
- The policy will promote technology self-reliance and indigenization to achieve the larger goal of “Atmanirbhar Bharat”.
- An India-centric Equity & Inclusion (E&I) charter will be developed for tackling all forms of discrimination, exclusions, and inequalities in STI leading to the development of an institutional mechanism.
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