HYDERABAD: As part of a countrywide campaign to showcase technological developments, the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) on Tuesday kicked off the ‘One Week One Lab’ programme at the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology.
The first day of the five-day event showcased how science creates better things for human living, which was attended by school and college students, educators, industrialists, farmers, wildlife officials and policymakers.
Students of Classes 7-9 of Vedam High School in Nirmal district were among those in attendance at the expo on the day.
Trishul, a student, said: “There is so much of learning for us. There are a few students who wanted to take up research in their career after attending this event. This gave us an insight into how science can help us.”
Apoorva, of CCMB, said: “Our development and collaboration works are displayed here. For us too, the interaction with the visitors gave more information about what people really want.”
Varshini, a second-year undergraduate student of Kasturba Gandhi College, Marredpalli, who was attending the event with her classmates, said: “We are able to know futuristic developments and how science can capture the market through need-based production. After coming here, we got an idea of how bring in an idea, develop and establish our start-up.”
Anusha Gopali, of Bhavan’s College in Sainikpuri, said: “Our life sciences students got so much of learning here as they got to see many new innovations.”
A stall on how science and research helped in improving rice cultivation, by making crops disease-free and high-yielding, was a hit among all.
Earlier in the day, the campaign was inaugurated by Dr N. Kalaiselvi, director-general of CSIR.
She said, “Sustainability is the call of the nation today, and it requires different labs, scientists, entrepreneurs and industry to collaborate together. Covid-19 brought many of these stakeholders together, and it is now important to maintain the momentum and solve the many problems in our society.”
The gathering was also addressed by Dr Madhusudhana Rao, CEO of Atal Incubation Centre-CCMB, who emphasised the importance of bridging the gap between academia and entrepreneurship.
This was followed by a brainstorming session between scientists and policymakers on how wastewater surveillance can be used effectively in Indian cities to track and curb infectious diseases. The session ended with a discussion of suggestions.
