The government has cleared 20 strategic research projects worth around Rs 74 crore in the areas of specialty fibre, agro-textiles, smart textiles, protective gear, sports textiles and geo textiles segment under its flagship programme National Technical Textiles Mission.
The projects were cleared under the chairmanship of Piyush Goyal, Minister of Textiles, Commerce and Industry, Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, on November 1.
Addressing a group of scientists and technology experts, Goyal said, "Industry and academia linkages are essential for the growth of research and development in the application areas of technical textiles in India. Building convergence with academicians, scientists and researchers is the need of the hour."
He emphasised on the importance of contributions of technology and segment experts, scientists and academicians to India's technical textiles future growth.
Despite the prominent usage of speciality fibres in India, indigenisation of the technology has still been a major challenge, which needs collaborative interventions from both industry and academia, the minister said.
He called for a robust indigenisation of machinery and equipment for the technical textile sector to establish sustained and strong foothold in the global landscape.
"Revision of R&D guidelines and creation of dedicated indigenous machinery and equipment development guidelines under National Technical Textiles Mission were discussed and recommended by the committee during the meeting," a statement said.
To bolster the innovation and research ecosystem in technical textiles, National Technical Textiles Mission will support ideation and prototyping of R&D projects worth up to Rs 50 lakh and Rs 100 lakh respectively, which have clear potential to translate into commercial products and technologies.
Goyal shared his inputs pertaining to technical textiles with the officials from different ministries.
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"Leading indian institutes, including IITs, government organisations, research organisations and eminent industrialists, among others participated in the session which cleared projects strategic for the development of Indian economy and a step in the direction of Atmanirbhar Bharat (self-reliant India), especially in the field of geotech, industrial and protective, agriculture and infrastructure," the textile ministry stated.
(This report has been published as part of the auto-generated syndicate wire feed. No editing has been done in the headline or the body by ABP Live.)