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• Crop Improvement using Traditional Methods and Ph.D. students have become Tata Fellows and assigned to
Molecular Biology Approaches work on various ongoing projects at the Centre.
In the wake of India relaxing its regulatory policies
around gene editing, especially to develop crops with
traits that enhance disease resistance and drought KEY ACHIEVEMENTS
tolerance, TIGS has established a rigorous programme
to make use of cutting-edge science, such as gene • A spoken language assessment tool has been developed
editing and traditional methods of mutation breeding to provide an accessible and scalable technological
to develop high yielding, nutrient rich food crop solution that can provide students with rapid feedback
varieties, including rice and pulses. This programme on their pronunciation and fluency of speech. A speech
aims to cater to the climate adaptive needs of today’s recognition algorithm running on a mobile device
society, as well as reduce hunger through better yields analyses the recording of a child reading out passages of
and high nutrient content. text and estimates metrics of accuracy and fluency. The
analytical engine has been tested by partners, including
Pratham and WPP, who have been using it to evaluate
TATA CENTRE FOR speech proficiency in over 1,500 children.
TECHNOLOGY AND • Over 1,000 cottage industries manufacturing artisanal
DESIGN (TCTD) jaggery have shut down in the Kolhapur region in the
last decade due to the non-availability of
OVERVIEW technology and skilled manpower, and an
for
unorganised
supply
chain
sugarcane. To address the situation, a
The Tata Centre for Technology and
project team has developed
Design (TCTD) at IIT Bombay (IITB)
a mobile unit that ensures
was established in 2014 to address the
continuous manufacturing
unmet needs of resource constrained
of jaggery. The unit is easy
communities in India and those
to use, energy e cient, and
around the world. With a focus on
produces a product of
end-to-end innovation, TCTD serves as
consistent quality. The team
a virtual hub for research and
has now created a
academics and attracts graduate
start-up—Revotech Industries
students and faculty members from across
Pvt. Ltd.—to market innovative
IITB, assisting them in their e orts to create
processes followed in the various
and translate suitable solutions.
sugarcane cultivating regions
TCTD has funded 110 projects, of of the country.
which 21 have received translational-level funding. Seven
start-ups and six technology transfers have been achieved • A translation project to create low-cost bone and
so far, with 12 projects receiving large external grants. Out near-net-shape grafts for dental and orthopaedic bone
of the 36 patents applied for, eight have been granted so reconstruction resulted in a start-up called E ectmed
far and the remainder are under review. 120 master’s and Pvt. Ltd. To solve the issue of bone tissue degradation,
ANNUAL REPORT 2021-22 76