Question: Consider the following statements with respect to Scheme for Promotion of academic and Research Collaboration (SPARC):
1) It is an initiative of Ministry of Human Resource and Development.
2) It aims at improving research ecosystem of India’s secondary schools by facilitating academic and research collaborations.
Which of the statement(s) given above is/are correct?
(a) 1 only
(b) 2 only
(c ) Both 1 and 2
(d ) Neither 1 nor 2
Answer:(a)
Context:
- Researchers from the Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IITM) are collaborating with their counterparts in Germany to develop new materials for green energy solutions.
About:
- The project, taken up under the Scheme for Promotion of academic and Research Collaboration (SPARC), aims at developing alternative technologies to produce green hydrogen in anticipation of transition to hydrogen-based economy.
- Conventional methods of generating hydrogen result in a large quantity of carbon dioxide. Whereas electrochemical splitting of water, called ‘Water Electrolysis’ (WE), is clean, facile, and highly efficient technology for large-scale production of high-purity H2.
Facts:
- SPARC is an initiative of the Ministry of Human Resource Development.
- It aims at improving the research ecosystem of India’s Higher Educational Institutions by facilitating academic and research collaborations between Indian Institutions and the best institutions in the world from 28 selected nations to jointly solve problems of national and/or international relevance.
Areas:
- A set of 5 Thrust Areas which are Fundamental Research, Emergent Areas of Impact, Convergence, Action-Oriented Research, and Innovation-Driven and sub-theme areas in each thrust area has been identified.
- A set of Nodal Institutions (NI), from India, for each participating foreign country has been identified.
- The role of an NI is to help and coordinate with willing Participating Indian Institutions to forge an alliance with the Institutions of the concerned participating foreign country.
Intellectual Property Rights (IPR)
- The IPR developed out of the project will be decided as per norms of the participating Institutes. The Indian Institute will get the benefits out of Patents / Royalty, rather than the foreign institute or the individual faculty.
- All disputes will have Indian jurisdiction. Any special deviation will be resolved by MHRD through the SPARC Liaison cell and approved by the Apex Committee.
By : Arpit Mishra