Technology Advisory Group for ETG meets to discuss Carbon Capture, Alternate Battery Technology and Artificial Intelligence
Principal
Scientific Adviser (PSA) to the Government of India and the Chairperson of the
Empowered Technology Group (ETG) Professor Ajay Kumar Sood convened the first
meeting of the Technology Advisory Group (TAG) for the ETG today at Vigyan
Bhawan Annexe in New Delhi.
The meeting brought together TAG members, ETG members,
key government officials, and experts from academia to discuss priority areas
of scientific research and technology development particularly in carbon
capture utilisation and storage, alternate battery technologies, and Artificial
Intelligence.
Addressing the TAG meeting, Professor Ajay Kumar Sood
said, “Empowered Technology Group is a forum to identify the most pertinent
scientific challenges before the country and discuss the most suitable
technologies which should be adopted. Some of the technologies might be
contemporary, while some are futuristic, which would allow us to become
technology ready for the future. TAG will help ETG in brainstorming and
actualising ideas on how country’s technology needs should be met.”
Dr Preeti Banzal, Adviser at the Office of the Principal
Scientific Adviser, gave an overview of the constitution of the ETG and the
constitution of TAG as part of ETG’s mandate.
Since the inception of
ETG in February 2020, 50 ETG meetings have taken place, in which a total of 89
R&D proposals from 26 ministries have been evaluated, and 108 subject
matter experts have been consulted on these proposals.
Dr SSV Ramakumar, Director (R&D), Indian Oil
Corporation Limited (IOCL) delivered a presentation on carbon
capture technology and its utilization and storage in the Indian
context. Dr Ramakumar suggested looking
into developing a robust policy framework for carbon trading and carbon credit
because of intended decarbonisation of industries globally.
The session concluded with a productive discussion,
exploring collaborative opportunities between different academic and research
institutes, and industries through innovation clusters around industries from
major CO2 intensive sectors like steel, cement, fertilisers, etc. Need for further
studies on proper sequestration methods were highlighted.
Prof K Vijayamohanan Pillai, Professor & Chair,
Chemistry Dean (R&D), Indian Institute of Science Education and Research,
Tirupati delivered a presentation on alternate
battery technologies like sodium ion, metal air and solid-state
batteries and their potential for replacing lithium-ion based batteries.
Cost-effective solutions for alternate battery chemistry and recycling
technologies for batteries were also discussed.
Debjani Ghosh, President, NASSCOM gave a presentation on Artificial Intelligence as the new
frontier of economic growth. It was discussed that there should be focus on
building large foundational models, creating mega AI compute infrastructure,
capacity building, and data unlocking.
The Chair invited the distinguished TAG members and
invited experts to share their insights and recommendations to strengthen the
research and development ecosystem in the country.
Developing a common governance and implementation model
for providing technical support to these niche areas was also proposed.
Scientific Secretary Dr Parvinder Maini gave a succinct
summary of the three technical sessions. The meeting concluded with the closing
remarks by the Chair. In his closing remarks, Prof Sood highlighted the
importance of taking consolidated efforts in actualising the ideas discussed
during the TAG meeting and ensuring that the mission of constituting TAG is
fulfilled.