On the occasion of National Technology Day, 2023, five technology developers and partner industries were felicitated at Nitte University on May 11. Padmashri Dr. S. Ayyappan, former Director General of Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) was the Chief Guest and Dr. S. K. Pattanayak, former Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India was the Guest of Honour. On this occasion, Dr. S. Ayyappan highlighted the theme of National Technology Day, “From School toStartup – igniting young minds to innovate”. Dr. Ayyappan provided examples ofinnovative technologies that have transformed our lives during the last 4 to 5 decades. He emphasized the need to apply innovative methods to ensure food security in the context of climate change. He highlighted the need to work in the framework of one health to ensure food safety and minimize antimicrobial resistance. Dr. Iddya Karunasagar provided an account of the technologies developed at Nitte and licensed to entrepreneurs for commercialization. Of these, betel tea has already been introduced into the market by M/S Eshanya Beverages. Due to interdisciplinary collaboration between dental professionals and engineers, a medical device“periodontal probe” has been developed and this has led to the formation of a Startup Company Dentronics Pvt Ltd. Another technology released is for rapid detection of foodborne pathogen Salmonella to be commercialized by M/S Biokart India Pvt Ltd. This is very important for dairy, meat and fish industries since the Food Safety and Standards Authority (FSSAI) has zero tolerance for the presence of Salmonella in processed foods. The test kit developed at Nitte can be used even under field conditions. The technology for control of diseases caused by Vibrio spp in aquaculture using bacteriophages as alternatives to antibiotics was licensed to M/S Mangalore Biotech Laboratory. A test kit for detection of Vibrio vulnificus, another pathogen that can cause serious infections in immunocompromised people has been developed at Nitte in partnership with M/S Jigsawbio Solutions Pvt Ltd. On National Technology Day, developers of these technologies and representatives of Company that have taken the technology were felicitated by the Chief Guest, Dr. Ayyappan and Guest of Honour, Dr. S.K. Pattanayak. Dr. Iddya Karunasagar presented the importance of the technologies and explained role of DST Technology enabling Center in enabling the technologies that have been taken up by companies for commercialization. On the occasion of National Technology Day, the Guest of honour, Dr. S.K. Pattanayak, launched the recently designated FAO Reference for antimicrobial resistance. Nitte is one of the four such Centers recognized globally, the others being Pearl River Fisheries Research Institute, Guangzhou; Yellow Sea Fisheries Research Institute, Qingdao, China and Minnesota State University in USA. The FAO Reference Center at Nitte will be tasked with providing technical support to FAO activities related to awareness raising, surveillance of antimicrobial use and antimicrobial resistance, collaboration in one health context and capacity building. Speaking on the occasion, Dr. Pattanayak urged young students to strive towards technology development and commercialization. Dr. M. Shantharam Shetty, Pro-Chancellor presided over the function and congratulated all the technology developers and their partner companies. Dr. Satheesh Kumar Bhandary, Vice Chancellor hoped that more such technologies would be enabled and transferred to industry in the years to come. Dr. Indrani Karunasagar welcomed the gathering and introduced the guests. Ms Akshatha Kotian compered the programme.
Event Date : 2023-05-11
Venue : DST TEC
Last updated 2023-05-16 07:19:09