Nature of projects supported under the scheme :

i) Research & Technology development: Financial assistance for S&T related R&D programmes in emerging & challenging areas of science, technology& engineering and for development oriented location specific research and technology development that will help in micro planning and area development in the State.

ii) Joint/ Collaborative Programme with Other Organisations: To develop and support specific collaborative programmes focusing on multidisciplinary area based approach to rural/regional development in co-operation with multiple central and state institutions, universities, etc. These areas where scientific intervention can significantly improve the socio-economic conditions must be identified.

iii) Studies, Survey and Documentation related to Science & Technology: Financial assistance is offered for carrying out basic and applied scientific research/studies/survey/documentation that include techno‐economic analysis, simulation, modeling and studies etc. and development of State S & T database, S&T policy issues, specific status reports, etc.

iv) Lab to land pilot scale demonstration projects: Pilot scale demonstration projects including field trials etc. based on technologies developed by S&T Agencies/ Institutions/ Laboratories/ NGOs related to needs of the State.

v) Solutions of Problems of Different Line Departments and Industries: Financial assistance is offered for carrying out applied scientific research to cater to the needs and for solving problems of various Line Departments as well as Industries & other stake holders towards implementation in convergence with DSTBT for synergistic outcomes through collaboration and saving of government exchequer and judicious utilisation of public fund and resources.

List of broad category of subject areas under the scheme:

Technological innovation is the bedrock of a nation and the State’s economic and social progress. West Bengal is making rapid progress in technology innovation owing to its strong network of academic and research institutions and to provide leadership in all aspect of Science and Technology.

Technology Development and Adaptation Centre, set-up on 5th October 2020 at the Vigyan Chetna Bhavan, Salt Lake, will facilitate to develop the technology in nascent stage in a bottom up approach and also will catalyze and support translational research to technology transfer. This endeavor will guide the inventor/academician in developing their relevant and appropriate technologies with a strong support of Intellectual Property Rights protection mechanism.

Role of Patent Information Centre in setting up of TDAC:

Objectives of the Centre:

• Mentoring product development, motivating the youth to take up S&T entrepreneurship.
• Supporting job creation and employment.
• Facilitate the promising S&T solutions/Research in the state to enable sustainable ventures, businesses, and facilitate commercialization of research output. TDAC will develop technologies in nascent stage in a bottom up approach which will address need-based, location specific problems with appropriate S&T intervention for economically viable, ecologically sustainable and socially acceptable development.

Activities:

• As a first steps in this direction Orientation programmes are being organised for the PI and Co PI of Research Projects funded by Department of Science and Technology and Biotechnology, GoWB.
• Technology hunt Programme to provide the opportunity to pitch the idea of the outcome of the research and development projects funded by DSTBT, GoWB. In this programme the Technology start-ups, grass root innovators get the opportunity to pitch their idea. The Technology Hunt 2021 was organized by TDAC, WBSCST.
• A total of 20 projects (15 Research and Development projects and 5 grass root innovations) were selected from the applied 35 technologies in Technology hunt Programme were shortlisted after an intensive search and evaluation process by engaging eminent scientists. Nine projects were selected based on the novelty of idea and research, leadership, team capability, Innovation, Market Opportunity, Ease of Implementation and Social and State Impact.

Future Road map:

1. To develop the prototype and create facilities for market ready product development in a hub and spoke model with Universities and Industries.
2. To provide pre-incubation and post-incubation services to incubates apart from handholding, mentoring and training during incubation.
3. To Identify and support promising S&T solutions from the state and enable creation of sustainable ventures businesses.
4. To facilitate commercialization of research output that has the potential to create large scale social impact.
5. To carry out IPR management for incubates and technology start-ups.
6. To establish a vibrant interface between university and academia on one hand and the farmers, rural artisans, citizens and MSME sector on the other.
7. To create avenues for creative and talented young minds to channelize their energy into productive activities.
8. To promote entrepreneurship and creation of value and wealth for society.
9. To attract investments in the emerging technology sector.
10. To stop brain drain by creating job opportunities.
11. To build and nurturing ecosystem that supports S&T led entrepreneurship.
12. To motivate youth to take up S&T entrepreneurship (“Job Seeker” to “Job Giver”).
13. To create success stories which can be Role Models for researchers, innovators and enterprising youth.

Program Structure, Function of TDAC, Programme Flow

Seminar symposium conference :

Now-a-days, whatever may be the field, everything is getting advanced very frequently. Lots of researches and studies are carried out on various subjects around the world information on which mostly remain inaccessible to the common people in different corners of the State. This is where the Seminar, Symposium, Conference etc. are of great importance where Eminent Personalities, Scientists, Technologists etc. who have achieved some feat in Science and Technology (S&T) may interact with the students about the present and ongoing advancements in the fields of S&T. This Department gives financial assistance (Grantin-Aid) to conduct different S&T related International and National Seminars, Symposiums, Conference etc. to create Scientific temper and awareness on the benefit of the advancement of S&T amongst the University and College Students, Research Scholars, Faculties and Community at large through Colleges, Universities, Research Institutes, ITI, Polytechnic, NGO, Trust etc. throughout the State.

Science Camp programmes :

Department of Science & Technology and Biotechnology (DSTBT), Government of West Bengal has a Scheme for financial support for Science Camp Programmes, implemented by West Bengal State Council of Science & Technology, in all the relevant fields of Science and Technology and Biotechnology for creating an impact among the students and teachers in West Bengal that may be organized by Government/ Aided/ Private Schools, Colleges, Universities, Institutes, Registered Non-Government Organizations (NGO), Trusts, etc.

The Science and Technology Department of the Government of West Bengal was set up in 1988. The State Remote Sensing Centre of the State of West Bengal was established under Department of Science and Technology, Govt. of West Bengal in 1990, subsequently it has renamed as Geoinformatics & Remote Sensing Cell.

Through Remote Sensing and Geographic Information Systems the Department plays an exceptionally important role in providing state-of-the-art tools and documents to assist Government Departments and Agencies in improving their planning execution and monitoring process.

Some of the Projects activities in this sector are undertaken in partnership with the National Remote Sensing Centre, Indian Space Research Organization of the Government of India, Department of Science & Technology, Government of India, Different line Departments of the State Government and other State and National Organizations.

Objectives

Major Application Fields

Map Sales Activity

The Patent Information Centre of WB State Council of Science & Technology (under this Department) facilitates awareness building and protection of Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) through the following broad activities :

To create awareness on Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) and especially on Patents in the neighbourhood region of this Centre.

Enable Patent Searches for the Universities, Research Institutes, and Government Departments and Industry houses.

Searching for Novelty and Guiding inventors in filing patent their invention.

Protecting Traditional resources of State through G.I. registration.

Mentoring Technology start up in handling Innovation and Intellectual Property Rights issues.

To analyse the patent information (novelty) on a regular basis and suggest new ideas for new Research & Development based on such information to prevent repetition and provide road map for Government Financial support for Novel research projects.

Geographical Indication (G.I) protects State bio-resources and other traditional knowledge of the State to uplift the socioeconomic structure of farmer, artisans and weaver society of the State to fetch the premier value of the product for building up international market and further research.It is an indication, which is used to identify any agricultural, natural or manufactured goods originating in the specific areas with special quality or characteristics specific or unique to the particular geographical region.

Examples: Darjeeling Tea, Joynagar Moa, Santipore Saree, Malda Fazli mango etc.

Following G.Is of the State was facilitated for registration by Patent Information Centre

In order to encourage and provide a forum for scientific research especially for the young scientists and synergize new ideas with societal needs this Department organizes West Bengal State Science and Technology Congress every year jointly with different universities of the State with the fund support from this Department, since year 1994. From 2016-17, this Department is organizing the State Science & Technology Congress independently.

Three satellite Regional Science & Technology Congresses are being organized jointly with different Institutes of the State with the fund support from this Department in the months of November and December, since 2016-17. Up to five papers are selected as ‘Outstanding Paper’ in Regional Congresses in each discipline. These awardees are then invited to participate in the State Science and Technology Congresses for presenting the selected paper. Up to three Outstanding Papers Awards in each discipline is given during the State Science Congress. Both the awards contain a Certificate, Memento and a cash prize.

Every year this event witnesses the confluence of some of the best budding scientists as well as Eminent Scientists, Researchers and Professors of the State and at times, of India too. The ambit of the Congress also caters and encourages the inquisitive minds of the Children’s of the State. The Children are encouraged for their contribution and achievements through a Session dedicated for the Children - the Children’s Science Session.

State level Children Science Congress :

Every year Department of Science and Technology, Govt. of India organises National Children Science Congress where child representatives from all the state participates with their innovative ideas on science. Through this programme talented students are identified through Dist. level and State level Science Congresses (jointly funded by NCSTC, DST, Govt. of India and DSTBT, Govt. of West Bengal) held in West Bengal and are sent for participation at the National level every year. These students initially take up projects on any science discipline as per their interest and do a survey work, collect data, analyse those data before finally portraying their findings on posters for presentation at the completion.

The Council has recently set up a SC ST Cell to provide livelihood based holistic technology support to the SC ST and Backward communities of the State.

Survey based mapping of the livelihood assets, resources, traditional knowledge, skills available with the marginalized community would be done for assessment and planning to introduce necessary Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) interventions to overcome the gap and bring the community to a higher value chain.

This center would also build up a network with different organizations (creating an ecosystem of concerned stakeholders) to facilitate community level technology deployment (pilot mode), S&T know-how, training, capacity building and strengthen the weak links for development of livelihood in a sustainable manner.

This scheme is to promote Scientific Research and Development work towards fulfillment of socio-economic objectives of the Government and improvement of the quality of life of people. There are two Research Grant Awards in the name of i) Rabindranath Tagore Award (for Science Education) and ii) Swami Vivekananda Award (for Generating Scientific Temperament & Social Welfare).

Project proposal under this scheme will be considered for value-addition of a product or process re-engineering which has a reference to a predefined seminal work done under Government/Private sponsorship, leading to a defined application based on proven technologies. Only extension based on proven technologies to be considered for support under the 13 broad subject areas on which the Department funds R&D projects. Each Research Grant Award provides financial support of Rs. 5 lakhs per annum summing to Rs. 15 lakhs for three years.

This scheme is to provide better scope for research on subjects relevant to this state. There are five research fellowship awards (scholarship) given by the WB State Council of Science & Technology (under this Department) in the name of five pioneer scientists from Bengal -

Jagadish Chandra Bose Fellowship for Life Science or Telecommunication

Acharya Prafulla Chandra Roy Fellowship for Chemical Science

Meghnad Saha Fellowship for River Science Research

Satyendra Nath Bose Fellowship for Theoretical Physics

Upendra Nath Bramhachari Fellowship in Health Science

Target people for RFA are students who have completed their post graduate degree and trying to pursue Ph.D. degree at the same time. Each fellowship provides financial support for maximum 5 years. Remuneration for every student in each category is as per the current scheme of Junior Research Fellowship and Senior Research Fellowship of Dept. of Science and Technology and Biotechnology, Govt. of West Bengal.

Different State Awards are presented to the selected awardees for outstanding achievements in different fields of Science for encouragement and recognition. Four such awards are given after the name of eminent scientists of Bengal -

Satyendra Puraskar :

Awarded every year to an individual who is adjudged the best popular Science Writer in Bengali for the year. (Publication made within the last 5 years). The prize consists of cash amount of Rs. 50,000/- along with a silver plaque and a certificate of honour.

Meghnad Puraskar :

Awarded every year to a Voluntary Organization which is located and working in this State and which is adjudged the best Voluntary Organization of the year for the performance of science popularization activities. The prize consists of cash amount of Rs. 50,000/- along with a silver plaque and a certificate of honour.

Gopal Chandra Bhattacharyya Smriti Puraskar :

Awarded annually to a person as a token recognition of his/her notable contribution in the field of science popularization and performance in disseminating science from the libraries and laboratories to the common people of West Bengal for the last 20 years. The prize consists of cash amount of Rs. 50,000/- along with a silver plaque and a certificate of honour.

State Innovation Award :

One of the State Awards of this Department, namely, State Innovation Award (SIA) was introduced in the year 2006 to encourage, recognize, honour & reward grass root technological innovations developed by the unorganized sector of the state. SIA is given to three grass root innovators and one outstanding scout during the subsequent State Science & Technology Congress. The best innovator is given a cash award of Rs. 21,000/-, the second best innovator is given a cash award of Rs. 11,000/-, the third best innovator is given a cash award of Rs. 5,000/- and the outstanding scout is given a cash award of Rs. 5,000/- only. All the four awardees are also given a certificate of honour and a plaque.

Jagadis Bose National Science Talent Search (JBNSTS) is a premiere institute of non-formal science education in Eastern and North-Eastern India. JBNSTS was conceptualised in 1958 by visionaries like Dr. B C Roy, Sir Jehangir Ghandy and other eminent scientists to commemorate the Birth Centenary Celebration of Acharya J C Bose. JBNSTS is an autonomous registered society under West Bengal Societies’ Registration Act and is promoted by the Government of West Bengal.

JBNSTS is the Nation’s first science talent search organisation and is very unique of its kind. The Talent Search Program is one of the first endeavours and flagship program of JBNSTS. This is the oldest science talent search program of our Nation. The talented students are identified through a three step examination process and further, these selected scholars are rigorously nurtured through different research projects, various mentorship programs with outstanding scientists and educators, open ended thematic workshops, visits to different research institutions and laboratories of National and International repute, enrichment programs through academic apprenticeship, presentations at seminars etc. It envisages creating a talent pool of meritorious students who would make a significant contribution towards the development of the Nation in the field of science & technology. The scholarship program is an acclaimed initiative to motivate the young students who are on the threshold of pursuing higher education in Science. This dynamic initiative has received enormous recognition from all over India since the year 1960. The program has been formulated to recognise, encourage and nourish the undergraduate students studying, Basic Sciences, Engineering and Medicine in the recognised institutions of West Bengal. DST, Govt. of India has also recognized the talent search test by awarding INSPIRE scholarship to the basic science scholars of JBNSTS.

Among many activities of JBNSTS the Department of Science and Technology and Bio-Technology, GoWB is funding some of its most prestigious schemes , namely, Junior Talent Search Test, Senior Talent Search Test, Senior Bigyani Kanya Medha Britti, Talent Enrichment Programme, Teachers Training Programe and very recently approved Junior Bigyani Kanya Medha Britti Programme to support and motivate the meritorious students of the State.

RISE is a research internship/training programme (2 to 3 month), to encourage students in Life Science (any basic and applied stream including Bioinformatics) or Medical Science based research and innovation through hands-on experiences and operational skills with the high-end instruments. Introduced in the year 2015-16, 135 students were provided the training till date at top research institutes in the State. Budget per student – Rs. 20,000 + Rs. 5,000 (for 2 months fellowship & miscellaneous costs) and Rs. 75,000 (for supervisor contingency grant). The upper limit of student intake per supervisor (maximum 2 students) and per department (maximum 6 students). Applications will be invited from the students to participate in the training programme. Selected candidates will be awarded with the RISE fellowship.

Understanding the financial constraints of most of the Colleges and Universities in the State for providing necessary equipment based support to the students and the need for improvement of such research-based facility as well as technical training in Colleges and Universities, for producing quality workforce in Biotechnology, the Department has initiated support mechanisms for improvement of infrastructure in Universities, Post Graduate, Under Graduate Colleges in West Bengal as an integral part of promotion of biotechnology entitled ‘Biotechnology based Opportunities Offered to Science & Technology Departments’ or BOOST Programme. The scheme facilitates procurement of high end equipment for modern Biotechnology based research to be conducted in Colleges and Universities.

Nature of Support : The Scheme provide funds for development of infrastructure for teaching and research in terms of acquisition of essential equipment & consumables, networking & computational facilities as also up-gradation of existing instrumentation facilities involved in UG/PG teaching and research along with library facilities. The facilities will support efforts of the Department as a whole and individual R&D support would not be considered under this Scheme.

Duration : The duration of support for each project will be for a maximum of 3 years. Fund for equipment and other items (except consumables) is released in the 1st year and all the equipments must be procured in the 1st year. On successful completion of the process for purchase of equipment and submission of Utilisation Certificate along with audited Statement of Expenditure, sanctioned fund for consumables are released in the 2nd or 3rd year.

Beneficiary : Apart from the applicant department(s), students from other institutes/ departments may also avail the facility for their study or research purposes.

Type of support : The supports are offered at three levels:

BOOST – I (Colleges with UG courses – for augmenting UG teaching only)

BOOST – II (Colleges with UG & PG courses - for augmenting teaching & research)

BOOST - III (Universities - for augmenting teaching & research and for establishing a Center of Excellence in Biotechnology)

Human Resources Development Course in Remote Sensing and Geoinformatics:

The main aim of the training programmes towards supporting human resources development for the growing field of Geoinformatics. For that purpose structured training courses on subject matter are being organized. This Cell has established itself as an important Centre of Learning Geoinformatics in Eastern India. The candidates successfully completing the courses are significantly contributing towards the field in various capacities like faculties, research scholars and professionals in Governmental as well as Private Organizations. In-service trainees are successfully utilizing Geoinformatics in their respective Departments/ Organizations.

The courses offered under this programme are :

Human Resources Development Course in Intellectual Property Rights and Technology Business Management

With the objective of helping startups and professional in IP portfolio creation and maintenance and create roadmap for innovators and IP professional the following courses are being offered by the Patent Information Centre, WB State Council of Science & Technology (under this Department) in collaboration with Maulana Abul Kalam University of Technology, WB (MAKAUT)

The course is especially aimed at young entrepreneurs who want to build a career in this field or are planning for a startup.

Micropropagation or Plant Tissue Culture (PTC) has emerged as an important biotechnology tool to multiply elite varieties of high quality, disease free and high yielding plants rapidly in the laboratory irrespective of the season of the year. The technology has been commercialized globally over the last four decades. Micro propagation is presently most successful and widely commercialized technique of Plant Biotechnology. Prominent advantages of tissue culture propagation over conventional plant propagation method include vigorous growth, disease free, plant uniformity, rapid multiplication and round the year production.

Presently, the existing PTC laboratory is shifted to Kolkata Biotech Park with a widened vision and greater scope of work. A Greenhouse facility also exists at Banabitan (Central Park), Salt Lake which is comprised of 3 greenhouses units covering total area of 15000 sqft. A large number of plants (orchids, bamboos, Aloe vera, banana, Adenium, some tree species, medicinal plants and ornamental plants) are being maintained in the greenhouse.

The main objectives of this unit include:

1. Conservation of Biodiversity – propagation of Rare, Endangered &Threatened plants

2. Mass propagation of selective Medicinal and Aromatic Plants (MAP), horticultural and other economically important plants.

3. In house R & D.

4. Production of mother/stock cultures of some selective plant species

5. Hands-on-training for the students, entrepreneurs, farmers and enthusiasts