BENGALURU: The visit of UAE foreign minister Sheikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan to the Centre for Nano Science and Engineering at Indian Institute of Science (IISc) and ISRO's Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC) on Saturday reinforced this city pre-eminent position as the science and technology (S&T) capital of the country.
Evidently overwhelmed by breakthroughs in development of nano sensors for detection of tuberculosis and malaria, nano swimmers for delivery of drugs, and a host of other state-of-the art devices, and a host of start-ups launched by the faculty and students at the Centre for Nano Science and Engineering, the minister reportedly sought the help of Indian scientists for training researchers of his nation. "I feel proud that we belong to the same region (Asia), and have long-standing relations," the minister reportedly remarked at the end of his hour-long visit. "He evinced interest in collaborating with us in development of semiconductors," Prof Rudra Pratap, founder chairman, CeNSE, told Deccan Chronicle.
He said that a presentation was made to the foreign minister on the proposed Rs 3000 crore semiconductor manufacturing facility as the Union government has been scouting for investments from abroad for this megabuck project.
The possibility of UAE investing in this project, however, did not come up for discussions, Prof Rudra Pratap added.
The minister and his entourage were shown around the CeNSE facility by in-charge chairperson Prof Srinivasan Raghavan.
The minister later visited ISTRAC for a first-hand experience of tracking satellites and deep space probes such as Mangalyaan-I.
