The Research and Entrepreneurship Park (REP) of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bhubaneswar has joined hands with Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) to commemorate the National Space Day on August 23.

This day has been designated to celebrate the successful soft-landing of Chandrayaan-3 at Siva Shakti Point in the South Pole of the Moon on August 23, 2023. To commemorate this success, the Isro envisaged a month-long celebration from July 20 to August 23, 2024, to build capacity for entrepreneurship and innovation in space science technology throughout the country.

As part of the celebration, a two-day event was organised on the premises of IIT Bhubaneswar last week in association with Satish Dhawan Space Centre, SHAR.

Inaugurating the event on July 22, director NISER (National Institute of Science Education and Research), Bhubaneswar, Prof. Hirendra Nath Ghosh, said: “In addition to doctors, engineers and entrepreneurs, India needs scientists and researchers for overall development. The space technology sector requires brilliant minds to serve the nation in a different manner.”

Director, IIT Bhubaneswar, Prof. Shreepad Karmalkar said: “The IITs across the country have moved beyond knowledge generation, knowledge dissemination and knowledge application to include wealth generation though start-ups and entrepreneurship in their scope. IIT Bhubaneswar has also come forward towards achieving this goal through its 100-Cube Start-up Initiative, launched in February 2024. The target is now to motivate entrepreneurship among students at the school level and IIT Bhubaneswar is taking initiative towards this through its Research and Entrepreneurship Park. Space entrepreneurship will be included in this effort.”

Senior scientist, Isro, J. Damodaram, also spoke on the objective of the event, that is, enhancing collaboration between entrepreneurship and innovation for furthering the progress in the space sector. Scientist, Isro, Amitav Mohanty, also spoke on the occasion.

CEO of the Research and Entrepreneurship Park at IIT Bhubaneswar, Dr Soobhankar Pati emphasised the significance of fostering entrepreneurship. “The IIT Bhubaneswar’s Research and Entrepreneurship Park has incubated startups whose technological innovations can be utilized by ISRO,” Dr Pati said.

A mobile exhibition of Isro’s innovations and achievements namely ‘Space on the Wheels’ was organised on the occasion.