Telangana's IT and Industries Minister, KT Rama Rao, marked a significant milestone on Wednesday as he inaugurated the Centre of Excellence at the GMR Innovex Campus near GMR Airport in Hyderabad. This innovative centre, a collaborative effort between various entities, is dedicated to advancing food and health security, empowering farmers, and augmenting exports. Its primary mission is to drive sustainable cooling innovation, particularly in the realms of energy-efficient refrigeration for food and vaccine supply chains across India.
A consortium of organizations, including the Telangana State Trade Promotion Corporation (TSTPC), the Centre for Sustainable Cooling (CSC), the University of Birmingham, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), and the GMR Group, has joined hands to establish the Centre of Excellence. Serving as the knowledge partner, the University of Birmingham will play a pivotal role in transforming this centre into a trailblazing hub for research and innovation. The overarching objective of the centre is to facilitate the implementation of cooling and cold-chain solutions specifically tailored to meet the unique demands of the country.
Minister KT Rama Rao underscored the pioneering nature of this initiative, which is the first of its kind in India. Packed with cutting-edge facilities, the centre is strategically designed to comprehensively address the myriad challenges inherent to the cold chain ecosystem. Through the development and demonstration of cooling technologies and solutions that align with the state's requirements, the centre envisions broad scalability with a global impact.
Central to the Center of Excellence are the state-of-the-art facilities, including a solutions development lab, a demonstration center, a model packing house, and community cooling hubs. These resources are poised to usher transformative benefits for farmers across Telangana. By extending access to cold storage facilities, the center will empower farmers to preserve perishable produce, thereby elevating the quality of their goods and expanding their access to wider markets.
The operational model of the center will follow a 'hub and spoke' approach, delivering comprehensive training programs for farmers, local agri-businesses, agri-startups, entrepreneurs, equipment technicians, and researchers.
Telangana currently holds a significant position as a major exporter of pharmaceuticals and vaccines, boasting an export value of $4 billion. The Centre of Excellence is committed to advancing sustainable technologies that enhance the vaccine and pharmaceutical cold chains, thereby contributing to the accelerated growth of vaccine exports from the state.