Rs. 1000 crore sanctioned for IMPRINT India-II programme

The Central Government has sanctioned a sum of Rs. 1000 crore for the phase two of the Impacting Research Innovation and Technology (IMPRINT) India programme.

• Under the IMPRINT-II, a fund is being created by the Department of Science and Technology and Ministry of Human Resource Development together, in which participation will come from industry and other interested Ministries.
• The project will be run as a separate vertical in coordination with the DST. Prof. Indranil Manna of IIT-Kharagpur will be the National Coordinator.
• Under the IMPRINT-I Programme, 142 projects at a cost of Rs. 318.71 crore are already under implementation.
• These projects cover crucial domains like security and defence, information technology, energy, sustainable habitat, advance materials, health care, nano technology, climate change, etc. All these projects are expected to result in publications and also patents

About IMPRINT India

• It is a Pan-IIT and IISc joint initiative to develop a roadmap for research to solve major engineering and technology challenges in ten technology domains relevant to India.
• The programme was launched by the then President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee on November 5, 2015 at Rashtrapati Bhavan.
• The idea of launching ‘IMPRINT India’ originated during the conference of Chairmen, Board of Governors and Directors of Indian Institutes of Technology convened by the President at Rashtrapati Bhavan on August 22, 2014. It is based on the Prime Minister’s suggestion that research done by institutions of national importance must be linked with immediate requirements of the society at large.
• Objectives: The objectives of this initiative is to (1) identify areas of immediate relevance to society requiring innovation, (2) direct scientific research into identified areas, (3) ensure higher funding support for research into these areas and (4) measure outcomes of the research effort with reference to impact on the standard of living in the rural/urban areas.
• Ten themes: IMPRINT India will focus on ten themes with each to be coordinated by one IIT/IISc, namely:
  1. Health Care – IIT Kharagpur,
  2. Computer Science and ICT – IIT Kharagpur,
  3. Advance Materials – IIT Kanpur,
  4. Water Resources and River systems – IIT Kanpur,
  5. Sustainable Urban Design – IIT Roorkee,
  6. Defence – IIT Madras,
  7. Manufacturing – IIT Madras,
  8. Nano-technology Hardware- IIT Bombay,
  9. Environmental Science and Climate Change – IISc, Bangalore and
  10. Energy Security – IIT Bombay.