CSIR is now a WAITRO Member. CSIR becomes a member of the World Association of Industrial and Technological Research Organizations (WAITRO)
A Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) has now become a member of the World Association of Industrial and Technological Research Organizations (WAITRO). In 1970, under the auspices of the United Nations system, the WAITRO was established to promote and encourage co-operation among industrial and technological research and development organizations (RTOs). WAITRO is a non-governmental, independent, and a nonprofit association.
Now that the CSIR is a member of WAITRO, the CSIR institutes can make use of this platform to develop cooperation links other organizations which are its members, especially like some of the organizations which are the world’s most acknowledged industrial research and development organizations for research and technology development partnerships. For sustainable development, WAITRO enables action-oriented development partnerships among member organizations. This can improve the quality and value of technological research in the developing world and can provide research exchange.
All the units/institutes/divisions of CSIR will have the benefits of joining WAITRO. The benefits include the free usage of SAIRA’s technology and partner search (to submit challenges) and to submit proposals, the free usage of SAIRA’s research
and technology development. To tackle the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, SAIRA which is an open innovation platform connects the members of WAITRO, civil society, governments, and the private sector to enhance the deployment and development of technologies. SAIRA stands out from other open innovation platforms because the users need not have their intellectual property surrendered. SAIRA aims to transfer and exchange technologies and wants to implement innovative solutions on a global level by bringing all the established researchers together with government agencies, companies, NGOs, impact investors, and start-ups. It is secured by Fraunhofer technology and is operated by the WAITRO Secretariat based in Sankt Augustin, Germany.The biggest European Union Research and Innovation program, Horizon 2020 has close to €80 billion of funding available over seven years (2014 to 2020) along with the private investment this money attracts. CSIR, now a member of WAITRO, can take part in this biggest program, HORIZON 2020 and HORIZON EUROPE consortia. This assures more discoveries, breakthroughs, and world-firsts as it takes great ideas from the lab to the market.
This membership provides various benefits such as access to the SAIRA newsletter monthly, which has Open Challenges, Funding Opportunities, SAIRA Campaigns, and members can participate in WAITRO’s Innovation Accelerator Program also the SAIRA Project Camps. The members can be a part of the WAITRO Innovation Award, which has up to 15.000 USD seed funding for innovative project proposals and also participate in the WAITRO Capacity Development Program, which includes training, conferences, networking events). For participating in WAITRO Global Innovation Summit 2020 (December 2020, Pretoria, South Africa, there can be discounts availed through the membership.
The CSIR membership makes it easier to get the WAITRO Fellowship program and allows researchers to other members of WAITRO or the host WAITRO Fellows at their organization. There is also free access to WAITRO Intranet (WAITRO events, market place, and opportunities). The member’s organizational activities and achievements can be published in the WAITRO Newsletter.
Voting eligibility is provided by this membership in the WAITRO General Assembly. WAITRO Executive Board and for Regional Focal Point eligibility can be accessed through this membership. A membership to certificate CSIR is also provided.
Currently, there are 160 Member organizations from 78 countries in WAITRO. The member organizations include the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Australia; Danish Technological Institute, Denmark; Jiangsu Industrial Technology Research Institute, China; Fraunhofer, Germany; Bangladesh Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (BCSIR), Bangladesh; Central Metallurgical Research and Development Institute (CMRDI), Egypt; Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey.
CSIR Is Now A WAITRO Member
Author: Prathibha HC
