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TDM PHASE II

Encouraged by the response from the Planning Commission and considering the national needs, a base document for TDM-Phase II was submitted by IITs and IISc to MHRD in Sept. 1999, in which eight generic areas were identified. A review of the TDM Phase II proposals was held at MHRD on December 31,2002. In this meeting, the consensus was that the original missions and submissions needed to be revised. It was suggested that TDM-II should be 'India-centric', and focus on real life problems of the rural and urban population.

Based on the feedback of this meeting, the Deans (R&D) of all IITs and Chief-Coordinator, TDM, IISc had a series of meetings (July 2,2003 at IIT Madras, Feb 26,2004 at IIT Bombay and August 9, 2004 at IIT Kanpur) to decide on the mission areas for TDM-II. In selecting these areas, it was kept in mind that IITs/IISc should play their role in improving the socio-economic condition of the country as well as catalyze the modernization of Indian industries. The criteria used for selection of these areas was that the proposed missions should either focus on urgent societal needs which the Government is trying to address or should lead to technology leadership at the global level. The IITs/IISc can play a leadership role even if one of the areas has already been identified as a National Mission. The primary vision of TDM Phase II projects is to utilize the combined synergy between IITs, IISc, and the Indian industry to originate innovative new technologies with solid rural focus and maximum societal impact.

The areas identified by the Deans Group, in consultation with their faculty, are:

In each mission, more than three Institutes are keen to take up collaborative projects. In addition to development of new processes and products, it is expected that TDM –II projects will also result in innovative technologies for fabricating high-tech equipment that is a critical need of our country. It is also expected that a large number of patents will be obtained by this research, something that will be of utmost importance for Indian technology to survive. Societal impact, the industry collaboration and the Intellectual Property generation are the key features in TDM Phase II.