Education - Current Affairs for July, 2017

The Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Government of India, signed an Institutional agreement with the Punjab State Council of Science and Technology in New Delhi.

This was to establish India’s first Technology and Innovation Support Centre (TISC) at Patent Information Centre, Punjab, under the World Intellectual Property Organization’s (WIPO) TISC program.

The objective of the TISC is to stimulate a dynamic, vibrant and balanced Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) system in India to foster creativity and innovation.

This will thereby promote entrepreneurship and enhancing social, economic and cultural development by establishing a network of TISCs in India.

WIPO’s Technology and Innovation Support Centre (TISC) program provides innovators in developing countries with access to locally based, high quality technology information and related services.

This is helping them to exploit their innovative potential and to create, protect, and manage their Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs).

The Cell for IPR Promotion and Management (CIPAM) is designated as the National Focal Point for the TISC national network.

As the national focal point, CIPAM shall identify potential host institutions, assess their capacities and support them in joining the TISC program.

CIPAM will also act as the main intermediary between WIPO and TISC host institutions and coordinate all the activities of the national TISC network.

Over 500 TISCs operate worldwide and establishing TISC in India will give the host institutions an access to the global network.

In upcoming years, CIPAM is planning to establish TISCs in Universities, State Science Councils, R&D institutions etc.

TISC will give an impetus to knowledge sharing, sharing of best practices among the TISCs, capacity building, generation and commercialization of IPs.

Services offered by TISC

• Access to online patent and non-patent (scientific and technical) resources and IP-related publications;
• Assistance in searching and retrieving technology information;
• Training in database search;
• On-demand searches (novelty, state-of-the-art and infringement);
• Monitoring technology and competitors;
• Basic information on industrial property laws, management and strategy, and technology commercialization and marketing.

Subra Suresh, an eminent Indian-origin scientist in the US was on Thursday named as the president of Singapore’s prestigious Nanyang Technological University.

Suresh, 61, will begin his term as the fourth president of the NTU on January 1, 2018, taking over from current president Bertil Andersson.

Mr. Suresh joins NTU from Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) where he was president for the last four years.

Chairman of the NTU Board of Trustees, Koh Boon Hwee (Chairman of Agilent Technologies, Inc, former Chairman of both Singapore Airlines and DBS Bank), announced Mr. Suresh ’s appointment.

The succession planning started last year and in line with international best practices of universities, NTU had conducted a global search for its next president in Singapore and internationally.

The eight-member search committee chaired by Mr. Koh unanimously selected Prof Suresh for the top role at NTU, and his appointment has been strongly endorsed by all members of the NTU Board of Trustees.

Mr. Suresh understands the Singapore higher education and research systems, as well as those in North America, Europe, China and India, having actively engaged with various public and private agencies and boards.

As a member of a number of national academies of science and engineering, he is an educator, scientist, advisor, inventor, entrepreneur and leader all rolled into one.

Mr. Suresh is considered one of the most distinguished scientists in the US, if not the world.

He was chosen by former US President Barack Obama to serve as Director of the National Science Foundation, the agency charged with advancing science and engineering research and education in the US between 2010 and 2013.

His undergraduate degree was from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras in Chennai.

In 2013, he was elected to the National Academy of Medicine in the US.

He is also a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering, making him one of the only 19 American scientists to be elected to all three branches.

He also holds the distinction of being the first Asian-born professor to have served as engineering dean of the famed Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he attained his doctorate in science.

In 2011, Mr. Suresh was honoured with the Padma Shri by the President of India.

Nanyang University

• The Nanyang Technological University is an autonomous university in Singapore.
• NTU is consistently ranked amongst the world’s best universities.
• Address: 50 Nanyang Ave, Singapore 639798
• Phone: +65 6791 1744
• Total enrollment: 32,699 (2014)
• Chancellor: President Tony Tan
• Subsidiaries: Nanyang Business School,