DRDO – DU MOU for Enhanced Academic Interaction and R&D Collaboration

“Students get a glow on their faces whenever there is a talk of getting an opportunity to work in DRDO”, stated Prof Dinesh Singh, Vice Chancellor, University of Delhi, addressing a galaxy of DU academicians and top DRDO scientists during a brief ceremony held here last evening, in which DRDO and University of Delhi entered a memorandum of understanding aimed at enhancing academic interaction and R&D collaboration. Prof Singh described it as a Red Letter day in the history of University of Delhi as DRDO is a place where country’s best minds work to develop technologies to defend the country. “It is imperative for a University to serve the country and this MOU is a step in this direction”, stated Prof Singh. Mentioning about the University’s newly set-up “Cluster Innovation Centre” he described it as a program that’s going to change the way students learn.

Dr Vijay Kumar Saraswat, SA to RM, Secretary Deptt. of Defence R&D and DG, DRDO, in his address highlighted the longstanding relationship of mutual collaboration between DU and DRDO right from the days of Prof DS Kothari, the first SA to RM and an eminent physicist from the University of Delhi. Congratulating the gathering, he described the MOU as a step in formalizing the collaborative efforts between the two great institutions and making them more focused, he said, “we made an informal beginning about a year ago leading to this MOU, I am sure the champions on both the sides will take leadership role to fructify the collaboration”. Emphasizing the role of academic institutions in development of newer technologies, especially in areas where the maturity level of technologies was low (0-3 on a 10 point scale), he briefly discussed the ladder approach evolved and followed in DRDO in developing new products. He set the roadmap by identifying certain key areas for collaboration such as laser physics, cyber security, cryptography, nanotechnology, MEMS, and sensors for specific applications.

Earlier, welcoming the gathering, Dr Bhujanga Rao, Distinguished Scientist and Chief Controller R&D (HR), DRDO stated that coming together of these two great organisations will provide synergy and the MOU will be an excellent opportunity for all stakeholders. Shri R K Sinha, Registrar, University of Delhi, Prof. Madan Mohan Chaturvedi, Head, Cluster Innovation Centre, Dr A K Singh, Director, Human Resources Development, DRDO, Directors of Delhi based laboratories of DRDO and several senior professors of DU were present during the ceremony.

Source:pib