FM launches National Centre for Precision Medicine

CHENNAI: Finance and Corporate Affairs Minister Nirmala Sitharaman inaugurated the National Centre for Precision Medicine in Cancer at the CSR summit at Indian Institute of Technology- Madras (IIT-M) on Sunday.

Interacting with industry leaders, the Finance Minister stressed on the need for Corporate Social Responsivity (CSR) in research and development to foster innovation to drive Indian economic dreams. She also interacted with students and corporate members on making CSR more meaningful in terms of research.

“Corporate Social Responsibility funds being given for such research is bearing substantial outcomes and it should continue. I would think the Indian government policy has also helped in moving forward on these aspects.

“In 2016, when the start-up policy was announced, a lot of enabling policies were also brought in so that start-ups can get assistance in filing IPs. The number of days it took for patents to clear was 72 months in 2016. As of December 2020, which is the last data I have, it has come down to 12 months and in some cases, 24 months. We are trying to bring that down even further,” she added.

IIT-Madras has already been collaborating with corporates, Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) and various industries related to technology-driven CSR projects. Through this collaboration, IIT-M has over 175 CSR partners and projects worth more Rs 240 crore in the past few years.