Union Minister opens two technical facilities at Mohali

Tribune News Service

Mohali, November 2

An advanced 650 teraflops supercomputing facility has been established at the National Agri-Food Biotechnology Institute (NABI) here, which was inaugurated by the Union Minister of State for Science and Technology, Dr Jitendra Singh, today

Speaking on the occasion, he said the Central Government would identify and promote 75 innovative start-ups in the 75th year of India’s independence and this new supercomputing facility will act as a facilitator for these start-ups working in areas such as telemedicine, digital health, BIG data, artificial intelligence and block chain technologies.

The minister, who also holds charge for earth sciences; prime minister’s office, personnel, public grievances, pensions, atomic energy and space, further said the 75 best chosen start-ups would be an asset for India to lead the country in the next 25 years, during the celebrations of Centenary of India’s Independence.

About NABI, he said the facility had come up under the National Supercomputing Mission (NSM) in collaboration with C-DAC, Pune. This high-end facility will be a boon for the analysis of BIG data accruing from the large-scale genomics, functional genomics, structural genomics and population studies being carried out at various institutes and universities of national and international repute.

Established with an approximate cost of Rs20 crore, Dr Jitendra said the 650 teraflops supercomputing facility would cater to the needs of the interdisciplinary cutting-edge research being carried out at the institute related to agricultural and nutritional biotechnology and would be open to collaborative work for the scientists working in other institutes and universities as well as for projects sanctioned under NSM.

He also launched two digital working platforms, NABI-Labify and e-Office at NABI under the Digital India Initiative. NABI Labify is a unique software that facilitates live tracking of funds, which are sanctioned for purchase of equipment, consumable, manpower, extramural projects, etc.

In another event, Dr Jitendra Singh inaugurated the i-RISE Technology Business Incubator (TBI) at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Mohali, which will provide world-class research facilities for start-ups in the country. He said with the formation of the TBI, Mohali would join the league of other start-up hubs in the country like Bengaluru and Gurugram.