Chandigarh Region Innovation and Knowledge Cluster (CRIKC) held a meeting at PEC University of Technology on 9th May, 2017. It was organized as a part of an immersion visit to Chandigarh by Katherine Ryan, Second Sec, Political/Foreign Policy, British Deputy High Commission.
The dignitaries present included representatives of the various CRIKC institutes, academicians and Madhuchhanda Mishra, Prosperity and Knowledge Economy Advisor, British Deputy High Commission, Chandigarh.
Dr. Manoj K Arora, Director, PEC, briefed the audience about the background of the CRIKC society, which is an endeavor to foster and sustain close academic alliances between institutions of higher education and research in the Chandigarh region. It is a 25 member strong alliance of prestigious institutes from Northern India, such as Panjab University, PGIMER, PEC, IISER Mohali, IIT Ropar, etc.
Elucidating the activities of CRIKC, he cited an example of the smartphones city project. He also informed the audience regarding the set-up of the Smart City Innovation Centre (SCIC) at PEC, sharing details of the MoU signed by the institution with the Chandigarh Administration. He discussed shortly, the parameters that were kept in mind to ensure innovation. He also shed some light on the facilities provided by the government for the same. Dr. Arora then elaborated the future plans and objectives of CRIKC in setting up centers for research and PhD programs. He informed that an Incubation Centre for Economic Development and Job creation, was also in the pipeline. He discussed the roadmap for an international study platform that CRIKC aims to establish, by giving references to the various resources at its disposal such as the international hostel at PU. The collaborative work of CRIKC with the University of Nottingham and Ministry of Urban Development, Government of India, was also discussed.
The various member representatives of CRIKC, stressed on an intellectual and economic support system or a potential tie up with the Universities of UK in the pre PhD courses and online courses through one semester student exchange programs, joint research and joint post-doctoral and specialty courses.
The meeting concluded with the academicians stressing upon the importance of sabbatical leave and availability of research fund to provide necessary exposure to the faculty members. The need for well framed guidelines regarding the duration for sending such proposals for collaborations was also highlighted. They observed that this would ensure that the faculty members had enough time to complete all the formalities.