CSIR-CEERI Societal Outreach

A robust delivery mechanism that will effectively translate the innovations into actual societal benefits is the need of the hour and CSIR is interested in utilizing the expertise of NGOs/ social entrepreneurs in making the appropriate technologies available for the masses through the development of appropriate business models. For wider dissemination, the CSIR technologies would definitely require to be pushed by the line ministries, funding institutions and banks, so that many new budding entrepreneurs, self help groups and NGOs emerge in the form of a new generation of manufactures/suppliers/distributors/retailers.

CSIR-CEERI is a National R&D Institute that brings an interdisciplinary approach to address societal challenges. As a Center of Excellence, we envision a world,  where technology is designed and used to empower people. We create innovative R&D, educational and skill development solutions to uplift entire community.  In our commitment to rural and urban community of India apart from skill development programme, we are focusing to serve the society through our R&D outcomes in Smart sensing system, Smart Grid/ energy and Automation technologies in water, food, health, Agro and  food sector.

Objective :   Possible outreach

• Direct contact through community meetings, workshops, seminars, or official meetings with stakeholders and stakeholder organizations to solicit input, present and explain the new research, application of research to management or other community needs.
• Incorporation of new research findings into formal and informal educational activities for different age groups.
• Proactive contact with news and other media support to broaden local, regional, or national understanding of research outcomes.
• Professional-quality use of traditional and/or new media to disseminate research results to appropriate audiences.
• Train the manpower in the area of measurement science and technology
• Standardization centre for small scientific instrument manufacturers.

Proposed Task/Activity:

A) Outreach of Technology to Society (OTS): (Through web portal)

This website is dedicated to the contributions from the work of Scientists of CSIR-CEERI to the common people. The development of research work done from this Laboratory are listed for creating an awareness and to promote scientific temper among the readers. This website will display those technologies which are relevant to society and ready for mass deployment

B) Science Outreach programme:

This programme is organised by CSIR-CEERI scientists and faculty from Industries and Academics  who wish to share the excitement of science to school/college students. Our goal is not to “teach” science and technology but to “excite” some of them to take up careers in science and technology,  while others may grow up to cheer and support the progress of science

C) Outreach programme (Off-campus):

CSIR-CEERI scientists (individually or in group) address students from Higher secondary schools, science colleges and engineering colleges to attract the talented students to research as career.

D) Technology Workshop :

The workshop aims to capture the multitude of CSIR-CEERI technologies grouped under various themes that have been developed over the past years for implementation in rural India to enhance their economic and health status. The main themes are Affordable Health, Value Added Agriculture, Potable Water, Women Empowerment, Sustainable Energy, Waste to Wealth, Transport And Tech village. These themes would enable the right infrastructure in terms of low cost early detection of diseases (healthcare), smart infrastructure, access to potable water and benefit through value aided agriculture

Goals of Workshop:

1. To create an information archive on the technology development process and community outreach – successes and failures.
2. To develop and deploy technology  for sustainable rural development, synergizing strengths of sister CSIR laboratories.
3. To evolve generic models of outreach (Implementation / deployment Plan)

E) Public-sector outreach (including – future Agro-Extension Centre)

The main phases of the agriculture industry are crop cultivation, water management, fertilizer application, fertigation, pest management, harvesting, post harvest handling, transporting of food/food products, packaging, food preservation, food processing/value addition, food quality management, food safety, food storage and food marketing. All agricultural extension and farmer-outreach programs face three major challenges viz. ensuring cost-effective outreach, designing solutions tailored to needs of individual farmers and cultivating an image that is farmer-friendly. Large sections of the farming community, particularly the rural folk, do not have access to the huge knowledge base acquired by agricultural universities, extension centers and businesses. However, internet and mobile networks have the potential to provide agro-information services that are affordable, relevant to needs (timely and customized), searchable and up to date.

CEERI will take a proactive role in assessing the research and development and technology transfer needs of a variety of producers, including underserved and minority groups; designing appropriate strategies, such as applied, on-farm research, for serving those constituencies; and providing production assistance and other appropriate services, such as market development education for differentiated product markets, entrepreneurship education, financial strategies, value-added processing, and identification of opportunities for those working part time in agriculture.

Extension should continue to reach out to other programs within CSIR and Universities to draw wider networks of human resources, and to work with broader arrays of partners in the state, private, nonprofit, and client sectors. CEERI will continue to facilitate more interdisciplinary and interagency activities that involve its extension centre’s. CEERI will evaluate the potential and effectiveness of these extension approaches to serve diverse constituents.

Available Technologies (Societal) — from CSIR-CEERI

• Milk Quality Measurement System for detection of adulteration in raw milk i.e. KSHEER SCANNER
• Mercury Free Plasma UV lamp for Efficient Water Disinfection
• RO Plant Automation – Electronic Monitoring and Control System for Community RO Plants
• Hand held Water Quality measurement system
• Portable Spectrophotometer – to detect Arsenic in water
• Embedded Auto Fish Feeder For Smart Pond Management System
• Embedded Smart Motorized  Boat for Water and Aquaculture
• 5HP PV powered 3-phase variable frequency drive Inverter for deep well pump
• X-ray Imaging-Based Automatic Sorting Machine for Mangoes with Internal Defects
• SFET-Based Microsensors for Potassium and Calcium Ions, Cholesterol and Triglyceride
• Photonic crystal based label-free detection of Lung Cancer cells
• 2D/3D Dental Endoscope
• Handheld Odor-Vision System for Fruit quality Inspection
• Environmental monitoring of NH₃/NO_x/CO_x using Gas sensors with smart Electronics

Group Head

Team Members