Steps taken by the Government for developing the linkage between educational institutions, Industries and R&D Institutions are as follows:

I.          Impacting Research Innovation & Technology (IMPRINT): This initiative aims at providing solutions to the most relevant engineering challenges and translating knowledge into viable technology in 10 selected technology domains, viz. Health care, energy, sustainable habitat, nano technology hardware, water resources and river systems, advanced materials, Information and communication technology, manufacturing, security and defense, and environmental science and climate change. It is a pan IITs and IISc Joint Initiative seeking to develop a roadmap for research. During 2018-2019 Rs. 46.30 crore and during 2019-2020 Rs. 47.20 crore has been released.

I.          Research Park: Research park at IIT Delhi, IIT Guwahati, IIT Kharagpur, IIT Kanpur, IIT Chennai, have been established which provide an interface between entrepreneurship and Industry to establish their R&D units in collaboration with students & faculty members of the IITs. In the year 2020-21 Rs. 144.50 crore has been released.

II.        UchhatarAvishkarYojana (UAY): This initiative promotes innovation of a higher order that directly impacts the needs of the Industry and thereby improves the competitive edge of Indian manufacturing. The project envisages collaboration between the academia and industry – within or outside India.

In order to provide impetus to vocational education the allocation in 2021-22 for National Apprenticeship Training Scheme has been kept at Rs. 500 crore. Further, UGC has already issued guidelines for Apprenticeship/Internship Embedded Degree Program.

The information was given by the Union Minister for Education, Shri Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ in a written reply in the Lok Sabha today.