Educational institutions should “create people who can create new things. Institutions should encourage students to take up innovative projects and research in different fields,” said Avinash Chander, Director-General of Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).
Innovation should be the central theme of development. Teachers should make students take up innovative projects and not repeat what they find in academic books, he added.
Dr. Chander was speaking after laying the foundation for the Centre of Excellence in Composites at V.R. Siddhartha Engineering College here on Monday.
He said the country should focus on the manufacturing sector. Information Technology and innovative projects taken up by the DRDO have made the country rank among the top nations in the world.
But, compared to IT and other sectors, the manufacturing sector’s contribution to the GDP is quite less, and this needs to be increased. The DRDO is taking up various interesting projects, and sky is the limit for innovations. There is a need for skilled students who come up with innovative ideas, he added.
“We should export products, not manpower and export technology and not materials,” said Mr. Chander while making a presentation on the various projects taken up by the DRDO.
K. Jayaraman, Director, DRDL, DRDO, said when research activities were taken up at the institute level, it helped in improving the quality of products and making them affordable.
Siddhartha Academy General and Technical Education president N. Venkateswarlu spoke.
