Sunday, February 19 2006 16:42 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Bangalore: Giving a 10-point roadmap for the Indian Institute of Science, President A P J Abdul Kalam today (Feb 19 2006) asked it to create Centres of Excellence in multiple locations in the country and abroad for spreading the IISc brand.

Presenting his vision for IISc, Kalam said the institute which would celebrate its centenary in three years, should prepare the research roadmap for the country for the next three decades in macro terms and also "the micro road map" for the next decade.

IISc had to be known for its pioneering research at least in five areas of science and technology, said Kalam, who was himself associated with the country's premier institute in his scientific career.

Delivering the 16th J N Tata Lecture, Kalam also told to be a partner in the World Knowledge Platform to promote world class knowledge for creation, knowledge dissemination and knowledge sharing among all partner countries.

Creating undergraduate education as part of the IISc programmes which would enrich the teaching and research, making studies in humanities compulsory for all students at graduate, post-graduate and PhD level and carrying out study projects for inter-planetary missions and mining in planets to augment the material, water and energy resources for the nation were also proposed by Kalam.

Kalam also asked the IISc to create an "IISc-Virtual Education Hub" so that the quality education from it could reach out to the entire nation.

Virtual Collaborative Hub

It should also act as a Virtual Collaborative Hub, which would become the platform for the scientists, researchers from IISc, worldwide scientists and Nobel laureates to share their knowledge among the students and faculty across India, Kalam said.

Kalam also recalled that during his recent visit to Singapore, the Philippines and the Republic of Korea, he had put forward the concept of "World Knowledge Platform", which would integrate the core competencies of the partner countries to develop knowledge products.

The platform, he said, would enable joint design, development, cost effective production and marketing of the knowledge products in various domains based on the core competence of partner nations to the international market.

Kalam said the Platform would take up missions in areas including energy, water, healthcare, food, knowledge products, automobile, gene characterisation, herbal and natural products and tourism and related services.

Emphasising that development of technologies and their convergence had a significant influence on the society in terms of knowledge, health care, governance and economic development, he said that to maximise the synergy between various components of education, healthcare, e-governance and rural development, "we need to establish connectivities among them."