SATHI: A DST initiative to promote research, start ups

Varanasi: Sophisticated Analytical & Technical Help Institute (SATHI) Centre, a unique scheme launched by the department of science & technology (DST) to address the need for building a shared, professionally managed and strong science and technology infrastructure, has been established in Banaras Hindu University (BHU).
BHU vice-chancellor Prof Rakesh Bhatnagar, addressing a press conference recently, said that he SATHI Centre, established at a cost of Rs 125 crore sanctioned by DST, will act as the major node of a unique interdependent ecosystem in the state-of-art Central Discovery Centre, which has come up in a six-floor building, to nurture innovation, entrepreneurship and start-ups under one roof. The Central Discovery Centre (CDC) is equipped with state-of-the-art facilities for research in basic and applied sciences.
The centre will provide centralised facilities and guidance to promote innovation in BHU and also to motivate researchers of other institutions of the region. It will provide a platform for developing and using new technologies, and provide high quality analytical services to Indian industry for which they generally depend on institutions abroad. The revenue generated through quality services will be used for running the facilities in self-sustaining manner.
Under the first phase the DST has set up three such centres in the country, one each at IIT (BHU), IIT Kharagpur and IIT Delhi. The department has planned to set up five SATHI Centres every year for the next four years. According to the DST guidelines, external users (other than the host institutes) can use the SATHI facilities for 80% of their available time while the rest 20% of the available time will be used by the users of the host institute. The usage of the facility will be guided by the basic principle of maximum and effective utilization and accessibility to all. The facilities provided by the SATHI may be utilised by any user or organization at nominal charges.
The VC said that the Institute of Management Studies has been selected as a part of the prestigious ATAL Innovation Centre of NITI Aayog under the aegis of which an incubator -AIC-Mahamana Foundation for Innovation and Entrepreneurship has been established in association with the Bombay Stock Exchange Institute, Mumbai in the Central Discovery Centre.
The incubator has been set up to encourage youth and entrepreneurs to find solutions to the real problems, promote start-ups, create job opportunities and assist the government’s vision of Start Up India. The incubator will help in executing the mission especially in the area of technology, smart cities, clean water, green technology, waste management, citizen services, defence and other areas for social inclusiveness, innovation and job creation. University has been sanctioned Rs 10 crore for the centre and at present 10 people are being incubated in the centre.