Director of NIT, Jamshedpur, Debashish Bhattacharya, inaugurates ?Technica-2005?. Picture by Bhola Prasad

Jamshedpur, Feb. 3: Corporate bigwigs and budding technocrats from across the country gathered at National Institute of Technology (NIT) for a brainstorming session on the latest developments in the field of manufacturing industry.

In a bid to provide a platform to the technocrats to discuss various issues, the three-day national level technical symposium ?Technica-2005? organised by NIT, Jamshedpur, and the city chapter of Indian Institute of Metals today kicked off on the institute?s campus.

Various events including technical sessions, paper presentation, quiz and host of cultural programmes have been lined up for it.

Chief guest of the function, Debashish Bhattacharya, chief (research and development), Tata Steel, inaugurated the function.

Bhattacharya stressed the importance of technology and said India is lagging behind in the area of developing new technology and there is a need to develop a scientific mindset among youths.

Citing examples of Bao Steel Company of China, he said the company has made a significant achievement in the field of research and development. This company alone registers more than 200 patents while the Indian steel industry together could only manage to get 100 patents per year, he added.

He said the young minds should take more interest in carrying research and development only then they can think making India a better nation.

?We spend crores on buying technology which has already been outdated in the developed countries. But if the same can be developed in the country itself we can cut short our expenditure,? said Bhattacharya.

Earlier, Debashish Bhattacharya, director of NIT, Jamshedpur, highlighted the importance of ?Technica-2005? saying such programmes give the students an opportunity to showcase their talents and provide a forum for interaction and exchange of ideas.

On the opening day, the participants presented their technical papers on ?Advance Materials?. Every day the participants will present papers on subjects like ?Zero Waste Technology?, ?Total Quality Management? and ?Manufacturing Technology?.

Three papers in each subject will be felicitated. A metal quiz was also organised today in which 30 teams took part.