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 to
Startup – igniting young minds to innovate”. Dr. Ayyappan provided examples of
innovative 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.
News Date : 2023-05-11
Last updated 2023-05-18 04:26:32