The Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO) and the Indian industry must form a consortium to sell products in the domestic as well as international markets to make India a global player, according to C D Malleswar, Director of Naval Science and Technological Laboratory (NSTL) here.

He was speaking at NSTL on the occasion of the science day celebrations on Friday.

He said the DRDO labs have developed several products and they have the knowhow, but the products would have to be commercialised and the industry would have to do that.

On the other hand, many Indian companies are capable of competing in the global market, but there are a few gaps which would have to be bridged with the help of DRDO. Therefore, a consortium approach would have to adopted and some seed money should be set apart for it, he said.

He said NSTL has several world-class facilities such as the cavitation tunnel and the academics could work on them on a deputation basis.

Prof. D N Reddy, Chairman of the recruitment and assessment council of DRDO, said the students graduating from several engineering colleges were suffering from employability gaps and therefore they would have to undergo apprenticeship in the research labs.

He spoke of the exciting ways in which nano technology and other cutting-edge technologies would transform the world in the present century, but they would also throw up problems in the social and other spheres for which answers would have to be found.

sarma.rs@thehindu.co.in

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