SRISTI

The Union Minister of Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Science and Technology and Earth Sciences Dr Harsh Vardhan, presented the Students Innovations for Advancement of Research Explorations – Gandhian Young Technological Innovation (SITARE-GYTI) and Society for Research and Initiatives for Sustainable Technological Innovations-Gandhian Young Technological Innovation (SRISTI-GYTI) awards virtually today, November 5. As part of the virtual award distribution function, fourteen awards and eleven appreciations under SITARE-GYTI; seven awards and 16 appreciations under SRISTI-GYTI were presented.

Gandhian Young Technological Innovation awards constitute two categories of awards, SITARE–GYTI under Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC), Department of Biotechnology (DBT) and SRISTI-GYTI given by SRISTI. The awards and appreciations are given under these two categories to encourage students in technological fields to move towards setting up biotech and other start-ups. Professor Gupta in a statement said the SITARE-GYTI awards are given every year to the most promising technologies developed by the students in life sciences, biotechnology, agriculture, medical devices while SRISTI-GYTI awards are given to students in other engineering disciplines.

Under SITARE-GYTI awards, 250 entries from student innovators with potential for Biotech and Life Science start-ups were received in six categories from 96 universities and institutes across 23 states and Union Territories. More than 700 entries were received under SRISTI-GYTI in 42 technology domains from 270 universities and institutes belonging to 27 states and union territories.

Apart from Dr Harsh Vardhan, Dr Renu Swarup, Secretary, Department of Biotechnology (DBT); Dr Shekhar C Mande, Secretary DSIR and DG CSIR; Dr RA Mashelkar (Former Chairperson NIF and Former DG CSIR); Professor Anil K Gupta, Founder, Honey Bee Network and Coordinator, SRISTI, and awardees and other dignitaries were virtually present at the online function.

As per a Government statement, the online evaluation of the shortlisted entries was undertaken by the experts. The evaluation committee included Vice Chancellors of several universities, Directors and faculty of IIT, IISc, Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR), DBT, CSIR, Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), and Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) institutions.

Dr Harsh Vardhan congratulated all the students and exhorted them to address the unmet social, industrial and environmental needs and to create widespread awareness about the same. He pointed out, “More than Rs 10 crores worth of other awards and investment have been mobilized by the SITARE-GYTI winners so far besides 89 publications, and 39 patents being under progress”. “When we are celebrating 150 years of birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, GYTI awards are a fitting tribute to his legacy of using Science and Technology to solve societal problems”, he added.

Highlighting that all innovations and scientific solutions must be for transforming the lives of the people, Dr Harsh Vardhan said: “We are working on Scientific Social Responsibility policy right now, with focus on how efforts of our scientists can benefit all sections of society.”

Dr Renu Swarup, congratulated all the awardees and recalled how BIRAC had conceived SITARE to galvanise the power of creativity and innovative thinking among the young minds. “She called upon awardees to spread the word about various schemes of BIORAC (Biologically inspired resilient autonomic cloud) so that more and more students try to set up start-ups and help India become self-reliant,” the statement added.

Source: https://www.ndtv.com/education/dr-harsh-vardhan-presents-gandhian-young-technological-awards-in-two-categories-virtually