ISRO NITT Signing MOU

Space agency-ISRO on Wednesday (29th May 2019) inaugurated its Space  Technology Incubation Centre (S-TIC) and a Memorandum of Understanding  was signed in NIT, Tiruchirappalli, the central part of Tamilnadu. It  
was unveiled remotely by Dr.K. Sivan, Chairman, Indian Space Research  Organization (ISRO), Secretary, Department of Space, Government of  India from the ISRO Headquarters, Bengaluru in Karnataka. This is  
first of its kind incubation centre in Southern Region of India, aims  at developing innovative indigenous technologies that could be used  for future ISRO projects which would significantly be cutting down the  
cost.

Dr. M. Umapathy, Dean (Research & Consultancy) welcomed the gathering,  followed by the keynote address by Dr. Mini Shaji Thomas, Director,  NITT who addressed the dignitaries, faculty members, industry partners  
and student/ research scholars about the golden opportunity available  for the student community across the southern region to innovate an  idea and develop a commercially viable product thereby contribute to  
the India Space programme with the support of ISRO scientists.The ISRO - Space Technology Incubation Centre opened at the National  Institute of Technology (NIT) at Tiruchirappalli will incubate  
startups to build applications and products in tandem with the  industry and they would be used in future space missions,” said ISRO  Chairman K. Sivan during his inaugural speech.

Space Technology Incubation Centre (S-TIC) is a novel concept  conceived by ISRO to tie up the Academia, Industry and R&D  institutions in different regions of the country. S-TIC will provide  
projects of importance to the ongoing and futuristic programmes of  ISRO for the Research, Post Graduate and Under Graduate students. This  is expected to inculcate the much-required research culture among the  
student community. The final year students will be exposed to the  problems of relevance and importance to ISRO and proof of concept or  prototype developed by them will be validated through nearby tie-up  
industries. The products once realised will be validated and qualified  in the existing facilities of ISRO. Once qualified, they can be  inducted in the on-going projects of ISRO and buy back arrangement can  
be made. Through this, it is hoped to motivate the students to think  differently in order to initiate start-up enterprises which can  generate employment. The first Southern region, S-TIC is being  
originated to encourage space-related research activities in that  region.The centre is expected to bring the industry, academia and ISRO triad  under one umbrella to contribute towards the research and development  
(R&D) initiatives relevant to Indian Space Programme, which was  briefly explained by Dr.P.V.Venkatakrishnan, Director, Capacity  Building Programme Office (CBPO), ISRO- HQ.
Finally, Dr Jiwan Kumar Pandit, Associate Director, Capacity Building  Programme office (CBPO), ISRO- HQ, thanked the NITT fraternity,  industry partners from CII, BHEL, TIDISSIA, Student/ Research scholars  
and members from press and media for making this event a grand success.