Top Stories COLLABORATION Deepak Nitrite sets up R&D Centre in NCL campus Deepak Nitrite Ltd. search services, a state- (DNL) and the National ment issued by DNL said. CORRIGENDUM Chemical Laboratory Punjab Chemicals (NCL), Pune have en- The DRDF will be the tered into a memoran- first facility to be set up in buyout of IA & IC dum of understanding the newly opened NCL In- (MOU) on 10 March novation Park, which is an In the issue of Chemical Weekly 2006, that will allow DNL over 43,000-sq. m. facility dated 7 March 2006 (p. 120), the cost and NCL to work closely being developed by the of acquisition of IA & IC, a formulation together in identifying NCL to support the birth, unit, by Punjab Chemicals has been and pursuing R&D op- growth and expansion erroneously mentioned as Rs. 5-lakh. portunities of mutual in- plans of research and terest where fruitful and Deepak Mehta knowledge-based busi- The correct value is Rs. 5-crore. synergistic collaboration can be ness entities through critical stages of achieved. their growth by providing ready-to-oc- The error is regretted. cupy space with easy access to know- As part of this MOU, DNL has set up ledge centers (like NCL), knowledge Editor an R&D centre within the NCL Innova- workers, business networks and other tion Park in close vicinity to NCL, in or- resources. The NCL Innovation Park will oper- der to leverage the expertise and facili- ate with the public good in mind, even ties of NCL. The R&D centre has been The park shall also be home to the though it will be privately funded and will incorporated as the Deepak Research & Venture Center, a business incubator. have private organizations occupying it. Development Foundation (DRDF), a fully- This will initially occupy 10,000-sq. ft. of We understand that the environment and owned subsidiary of DNL, and was inau- built up area and aim to nucleate and culture at NCL Innovation Park will be gurated by Dr. R.A. Mashelkar, Director- nurture technology and knowledge-based different than that of an institute like NCL. General, CSIR. Dr. S. Sivaram, Director, enterprises. The synergy of industrial and public re- NCL, Prof. M.M. Sharma, Chairman, of search laboratory working hand in hand NCL Research Council, Dr. L.K. Dorai- New dimension to innovation and will be beneficial to both and ultimately swamy and Dr. Paul Ratnasamy, former- technology creation to the customers, said Dr. Sivaram. Directors, NCL, were also present at the Speaking at the inauguration of DRDF, inaugural function. Mr. Deepak Mehta, MD, DNL said, We Access to mind space of NCL are very happy with this partnership as Speaking on the occasion, Dr. New model for public-private partner- it adds a new dimension to innovation Mashelkar congratulated DNL and NCL ships and technology creation at DNL. At on taking this initiative and said that This agreement between DNL and Deepak Nitrite, R&D and marketing have companies occupying the NCL Innova- NCL will represent a new model for pub- been the two drivers of growth. tion Park would actually have the privi- lic-private partnerships wherein the re- lege of having access to the mind space search expertise, inventive spirit and We have always used home grown of NCL which was something much more resources of a leading publicly funded technologies to fuel our growth. This valuable than the physical resources of research laboratory and the process en- partnership will give a further boost to NCL. gineering and development skills, manu- our technology development activities facturing expertise and business in- and our foray into contract research and He hoped that both DNL and NCL sights of an established private sector outsourcing. We also hope that this part- would use this opportunity to work to- company will be combined to develop nership will lead to the creation of valu- gether on daring and innovative projects innovative new processes and products, able intellectual property and know-how with the potential of creating long-term while also delivering end-to-end re- that will benefit both organizations. value for all. 122 Chemical Weekly March 21, 2006 Top Stories SUSTAINABLE RURAL DEVELOPMENT ICRISAT strengthens partnerships with the private sector The International Crops Research Insti- a valuable development partner led to the Madhya Pradesh and Boondi district of tute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), formation of the Sorghum and Pearl Millet Rajasthan. In a recently initiated project, through its Agri Science Park, has strength- Hybrid Parents Research Consortia with 16 ICRISAT is working on an NRM project in ened its partnerships with the Confedera- private seed companies becoming consor- Eruvadi village of Tirunelveli district in Tamil tion of Indian Industry (CII) to work together tia members for sorghum, 18 for pearl mil- Nadu, in collaboration with the TVS Agri- on improved natural resource management let, and 11 being common for both the crops. Sciences Research Institute. Further, ICRISAT for sustainable rural development. Recently, Products developed with consortia grants has also been collaborating with private sec- ICRISAT and CII jointly organized a workshop are available freely to the public sector. The tor companies to achieve crop diversifica- for finding ways to collaborate on sustain- Biopesticides Research Consortium (BRC), tion and market linkages and employment able rural development, presided by the with 11 biopesticide manufacturers as mem- generation in the watersheds. This is by grow- Andhra Pradesh Agriculture Minister, Mr. N bers, is meant to develop, promote and com- ing medicinal and aromatic plants, develop- Raghuveera Reddy, who promised the State mercialize the use of biopesticides by farm- ing commercial products and marketing governments support for the partnership. ers. The partnership research will validate them. Biodiesel plantations are also being According to Dr. William Dar, Director-Gen- protocols for low-cost, commercial-scale incorporated in ICRISAT-led watershed eral, ICRISAT, the institute was the first production of microbial biopesticides deve- projects. The collaboration with CII will among the 15 international agricultural re- loped at ICRISAT, and will promote agricul- greatly enhance ICRISATs collaboration with search centers under the Consultative Group tural practices that enable low-cost crop the private-sector. Initially ICRISAT will be on International Agricultural Research protection. The private sector partners will involved with the NRM component of CIIs (CGIAR) to initiate partnerships with the pri- market the biopesticides. ICRISAT is already project in Dungarpur district of Rajasthan. vate sector. This initiative has yielded suc- partnering with private sector partners for The CII-industry group on Dungarpur is tak- cessful results, benefiting the poor and mar- natural resources management (NRM) ing up business initiatives, which would lead ginal farmers of the semi-arid tropics. We through watershed development. The insti- to overall sustainable development of the strongly believe that collaborative arrange- tute has been working with Sir Dorabjee Tata district. CII also hopes to start a similar ments and strategic alliances are the ways Trust to scale-up farmers participatory wa- project in Andhra Pradesh, an initiative in of winning organizations. Our collaborations tershed development in Guna district of which ICRISAT could participate. are geared towards helping mobilize cutting edge science and technology for the well- SEMINAR being of the poor in the semi-arid tropics of Power situation in Maharashtra draws Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, said Dr. Dar. response from industry Agri Science Park In view of the crippling power situation in Maharashtra, the Indian Chemical Manu- The Agri-Science Park at ICRISAT is the facturers Association (ICMA) organized one-day seminar on Power Situation in hub for public-private partnerships that en- Maharashtra & Industries Response, on 3 March 2006 at Mumbai. The seminar was hance the development and commercia- inaugurated by Dr. Pramod Deo, Chairman, Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Com- lization of science-generated technologies mission (MERC). While Mr. P.V. Krishna, Head Western Region, Wartsila India Ltd. and knowledge through market mecha- presented the CII Pune model, ABPS Infrastructure discussed in detail various press nisms. It consists of the Agri-Biotech Park notes issued by MERC. Delegates from the Thane-Belapur Industries Association, (a part of the Genome Valley Initiative of Roha Industries Association and Taloja Manufacturers Association presented papers the Andhra Pradesh government); the Agri- about problems being faced and initiatives being taken up by the respective associa- Business Incubator with eight private sec- tions. Delegates from Tata Power Co. Ltd. and Reliance Energy Ltd. presented pro- tor partners as incubates; a seeds consor- grams for additional power availability, based on their new investments in Maharashtra. tium; and the SAT Eco-Venture. The seminar decided that ICMA and other associations should prepare certain initia- tives like franchise model, displacement concept, co-generation plants at specific Research consortia clusters, surplus power pooling etc. and approach authorities for a way forward. The recognition of the private sector as 124 Chemical Weekly March 21, 2006 Top Stories PROCESS TECHNOLOGY Reliance Petros PP plant to use Dow Chemical technology The Department of Chemicals and tpa. DGT will receive a payment of $14- Petrochemicals has approved Reliance mn for the catalyst technology and Petroleum Ltds application for a foreign $5.2-mn for the solvent recovery plant, technology collaboration agreement with in four tranches. Dow Global Technologies (DGT), a sub- sidiary of Dow Chemical Company, for 25 per cent of the total payment will setting up a polypropylene plant at the be paid out on signing the licence agree- Jamnagar special economic zone (SEZ). ment, the next 25 per cent upon delivery The agreement will be valid for 10-years of the process design package, while the and Dow Global Technologies will be paid subsequent payments of 25 per cent each $26.55-mn in four installments for the 0.9-mtpa of polypropylene.