The need to build on the strength of the community and customize the role of technology according to the systemic needs of the community for changing their life and livelihood was highlighted at the National Conclave on Techneev@75, organized last evening in Delhi.

“Innovations often come from people who are hungry and are looking for solutions to their problems. Several efforts are being made to scale up such technologies and address gaps in them. Working together towards this will help bring forth the edge that technology needs for successful implementation,” said Secretary Department of Science and Technology (DST) Dr. S Chandrasekhar at the inauguration of the National Conclave on Techneev@75.

He added that we need to recognize the strength of local knowledge systems, bring in necessary

S&T interventions, market the innovations, and find innovative mechanisms to reach the masses.

The National Conclave is the culmination of the yearlong Techneev@75 program organised jointly by the Department of Science Technology (DST), Department of Biotechnology (DBT), the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), and the Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES) to bring together communities, societal change makers, and experts on one platform, showcased the significant outcomes and discussed key learnings and the way forward to explore how absorption of science and technology could be augmented at the _community level. It set a framework for strengthening the local innovation system in collaboration with the formal innovation System.

Dr. Debapriya Dutta, Head SEED Division, DST elaborated on how community change makers played a crucial role in adopting technology by the communities and emphasized the need for demystifying the role of technology in improving the life and livelihood of the community.

The learning from Techneev@75 program, including the models for strengthening the local innovation system, exploring the PPP model for sustainable livelihood system, S&T-based rural entrepreneurship development, commercialization and market orientation of local products, effective capacity building mechanisms and digitally enabled livelihood systems were presented at the conclave, by Dr. Kinkini Dasgupta Misra, Scientist, Vigyan Prasar.

Awards were presented to the winners of collage-making and video-making competitions conducted as a part of the TechNeev@75. The conclave also included experience sharing of noted science filmmakers, feedback from Techneev@75 coordinators, and a way forward session.

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SNC/RR