‘Accelerate Vigyan’ Scheme

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    In News 

    • Recently, the Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB) invited applications for the ‘Accelerate Vigyan’ scheme  for the summer season.

    The  Science and  Engineering  Research  Board  (SERB)  

    • It is a  statutory body of the Department of Science and Technology (DST)established through an  Act of  Parliament.  Supporting basic research in emerging areas of  Science  &  Engineering is the primary and distinctive mandate of the Board. 
    • The Board structure,  with both financial and administrative powers vested in the  Board,  would  enable  quicker  decisions  on  research  issues,  greatly  improving thereby our responsiveness to the genuine needs of the research scientists and the S&T system

    About ‘Accelerate Vigyan’ scheme

    • “Accelerate Vigyan” (AV) strives to provide a big push to high-end scientific research and prepare scientific manpower which can venture into research careers and a knowledge-based economy. 
    • It will work on mission mode and an Inter-Ministerial Overseeing Committee (IMOC) among all the scientific ministries/departments as well as few others, constituted for the purpose will help and support SERB in implementing the scheme as a successful embodiment.
    • It will initiate and strengthen mechanisms of identifying research potential, mentoring, training and hands-on workshops, on a broad-based national scale. 
    • Aim: 
      • To expand the research base in the country, with three broad goals – consolidation/aggregation of all scientific training programs, initiating High-end Orientation Workshops and creating opportunities for Research Internships  for those who do not have access to such resources/facilities
    • Focus: 
      • on young potential researchers with an aim to give an opportunity to them to spend quality time in the pre-identified premier institution, labs/organizations and empower them through best practices and environment so that they acquire the requisite skills and vision for undertaking future research assignments requiring high standards. 
      • Another component of the AV aims towards branding and aggregation of all the scientific workshops and training programs conducted in the country under a common roof and logo of “Accelerate Vigyan”.
    • Significance :  
      • It is expected to be a game-changer for developing career paths and providing support to catalogue skilled manpower development.
    • Components
    • Mission ‘SAMOOHAN’ :It marks the beginning of Accelerate Vigyan.
      •  It aims to encourage, aggregate and consolidate all scientific interactions in the country under one common roof. 
      • This mission, through its wide knowledge base, caters to a varied audience – R&D Departments, Institutes in Science & Technology as well as Stakeholders – mentors, coordinators, participants and students. It has 2 sub components :
        • ‘SAYONJIKA’ is an integrated initiative to catalogue capacity building activities in Science and Technology supported by Government funding agencies in the country. 
        • SANGOSHTHI’ is designed to facilitate the scientific community to establish an interaction with other individuals and research groups to enhance knowledge exchange. It is to keep them abreast of the latest developments in Science &Technology by supporting participation in national and international events across the country. This is done by providing partial financial …
    • Mission ‘ABHYAAS’
      • It is an attempt to boost Research & Development in the country by enabling and grooming potential PG / PhD level students by developing dedicated research skills in selected areas/disciplines/fields through high-end workshops and Training and Skill Internships. 
      • This is especially important for those researchers who have limited opportunities to access such learning capacities/facilities/infrastructure.
        • It has two sub components: High-End Workshops (‘KARYASHALA’) and Research Internships (‘VRITIKA’). 
          • ‘KARYASHALA’ is an effort to improve the research productivity of promising PG and PhD students from universities and colleges through high-end workshops on specific themes. This program aims to provide opportunities to acquire specialized research skills. These workshops will primarily be facilitated at Organizations / Institutions 
          • ‘VRITIKA’ is the call for initiation and practice in science through a Training and Skill Internship.
            •  This program aims to provide opportunities to promising PG students from universities and colleges to get exposure and hands-on research experience. 

    Other related Initiatives:

    • India surges ahead with Supercomputing Mission:
      • Under the National Supercomputer Mission (NSM), 4 new Supercomputers have been installed since July 2021 at IIT-Hyderabad, NABI- Mohali, CDAC-Bengaluru, and IIT Kanpur under NSM aiming to set up a grid of supercomputing facilities to provide access to High-Performance Computing (HPC) facilities to around 75 institutions and more than thousands of active researchers, academicians working through Nation Knowledge Network (NKN). 
    • STUTI
      • A new program called Synergistic Training Program Utilizing the Scientific and Technological Infrastructure (STUTI) announced recently is envisioned to boost human resource and its capacity building through open access to S & T Infrastructure across the country.
    • Women Science Programme:
      • The Women Science Programme of DST has started a new initiative to support Women PG Colleges under the CURIE (Consolidation of University Research for Innovation and Excellence in Women Universities) Program and invited proposals for the same. 
        • Besides, 30 institutions have officially started the GATI (Gender Advancement for Transforming Institutions) Pilot Program this year. The first of its kind program for lateral entry for women researchers in joint R&D projects between India and Germany was launched.
    • Fund for Industrial Research Engagement (FIRE):
      • 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 through ‘Fund for Industrial Research Engagement (FIRE)’ launched by the Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB) in collaboration with Intel India.
    • ‘SAMVEDAN 2021
      • Citizens across the country participated in solving India-specific problems of societal interest using the IoT Sensor Board through a National hackathon called ‘SAMVEDAN 2021 – Sensing Solutions for Bharat’. 
        • The Grand Challenge Competition open to all Indian nationals residing in India was organised jointly by IIT Madras Pravartak Technologies Foundation (IITM-PTF), along with Sony India Software Centre .
    • INSPIRE MANAK awards were conferred to the top 60 innovators selected from a total of 3,92,486 students who submitted their innovations from schools across the country which were screened at different levels.
    • Atal Innovation Mission (AIM)
      • Launched by NITI aayog, AIM is the Government of India’s flagship initiative to promote a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship in the country.

    Source: DTE

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