Space Technology Incubation Centre to come up at NIT-Rourkela

Rourkela: The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and the National Institute of Technology (NIT), Rourkela today signed an MoU for establishment of a Space Technology Incubation Centre (S-TIC) at the institute. The agreement was signed through virtual mode.

ISRO will provide annual Grant-in-Aid of Rs 2 crore up to two years to NIT-Rourkela as seed money for setting up of the S-TIC. The seed money will be utilised for facility augmentation to carry out the research projects and product development. NIT-Rourkela will provide the required infrastructure inside its academic campus.

Prof. Susmita Das will be the coordinator of the S-TIC from NIT Rourkela.

K Sivan, Chairman, ISRO and Secretary of Department of Space, highlighted that the space technology-related research and the products from the STIC will be utilised in Future Space missions. The move will also boost the nation building through ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan’ in space technology and applications domain.

Students and research scholars of NIT-Rourkela will execute real projects given by ISRO taking guidance from expert faculties, mentors from ISRO and relevant industries, Sivan added.

The ISRO Chairman also released a project book YUKTI – Sanchita.

This collaboration with ISRO will open up new opportunities for research and development as well as space start-ups.

The S-TIC will nurture the young academia with innovative research aptitude for carrying out research and product development in the field of space technology and applications. NIT Rourkela will provide its state-of-art laboratories, facilities and expert faculties to meet this purpose. The S-TIC at NIT Rourkela will also facilitate, encourage and promote capacity building, innovations and research activities in the Eastern region including Odisha, West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand and Andaman & Nicobar.

During the virtual meeting Director CBPO of ISRO HQ, PV Venkitakrishnan spoke about the purpose of setting up of six STIC in different parts of country to strengthen the industry academia ecosystem and encourage space technology startups.

Addressing the meeting Director of NIT-Rourkela, Animesh Biswas said, “I heartily thank ISRO Chairman and Director from CBPO for selecting NIT-Rourkela in the Eastern Region for setting up of S-TIC. NIT Rourkela’s Sponsored Research and Industrial Consultancy is the best in the country. ISRO’s support will further enhance our research infrastructure.”

A dedicated space has been allocated for the establishment of Space Technology Incubation Centre in the Golden Jubilee Building of NIT-Rourkela. At the Space Technology Incubation Centre new facilities is going to be created to carry out ISRO projects and development of products/prototypes etc.