JOIN USA ‘centre for excellence’ set up at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) under the aegis of the Union Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) to provide support and knowhow to such industries is likely to be officially inaugurated on June 17 by Kalraj Mishra, Union Minister of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises.
The centre will perform a number of significant roles, the most important of which will be to serve as a platform for “dialogue” between MSMEs and the academia. “We often see that a number of those in the industry are not able to use the latest knowledge and resources in the field as there is no meeting point between the industry and academia. Besides, many in the industry may be totally unaware of various schemes, the knowhow and support available to them,” an official said. “This centre will aim to help bridge all these gaps.”
Another significant role of the centre will be to serve as a knowledge base for ideas and innovation in the field. Accordingly, industries will get a chance to make use of this base at IISc in their own workings. The industries can also use the centre as a platform for testing their own ideas and technologies. They can develop and generate concepts, ideas and proper business plans, which they can take to the centre which in turn will help them to further promote and develop. But
S Babu, an industrialist, said that such initiatives are of no use. “Such plans sound good on paper but are in actuality very impractical,” he said.