Mansukh Mandaviya, Union Minister of Health & Family Welfare, Chemicals & Fertilizers inaugurated the seminar on “Industry Connect 2022”: Industry and Academia Synergy in presence of Bhagwanth Khuba, Minister of State, Chemicals & Fertilizers and Ministry of New and Renewable Energy. The event was also attended by Aarti Ahuja, Secretary, Chemicals & Petrochemicals; Shishir Sinha, DG, CIPET; Kashi Nath Jha, Joint Secretary, Department of Chemicals & Petrochemicals; and other dignitaries.

 Inaugurating the event, Mandaviya stressed on the importance of innovation and technology for the progress of the nation and called for greater industry-academia partnerships which will give a boost to research, innovation & learning. 

Mandaviya said, "Innovative zeal and manufacturing quality products at scale will help in realising Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of Make in India, Make for the World. Indian products of top quality will travel far and wide and will contribute towards an Aatmanirbhar Bharat and economic prosperity of India. 

He expressed his confidence that this seminar will deliberate on creating a roadmap toward achieving this goal. 

While addressing the participants, Khuba said, "The Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of Aatmanirbhar Bharat is not only about being self-reliant but also catering to the expectations of the global community."  

He also said that the chemical and petrochemical industry also stands uniquely poised to contribute to this vision by not only fulfilling domestic requirements but also by boosting exports and catering to global demand and CIPET has to play an important role in this.  

Ahuja said, "Lot of startups need technical support in the sector and CIPET can support them. Industry should engage more with CIPET to ensure better results for the sector." She said that further growth potential is immense and now is the time for innovation as the world is changing with disruptions and we need to be ready to turn them to our advantage. 

Prabh Das, Chairman, FICCI Petrochemicals Committee and MD & CEO, HPCL-Mittal Energy Limited said, "We need to adopt more digitization and stay ahead of the curve. Focusing attention on this will certainly increase the efficiency and productivity in companies." 

Rajesh Kumar Pathak, Secretary, Technology Development Board, Department of Science and Technology urged the industry to take initiatives for import substitution and the technology development board will promote them. 

Shishir Sinha, Director General, CIPET while highlighting the importance of CIPET said that the idea behind organizing Industry Connect 2022 is to establish synergy between the CIPET and industry.  

Kamal Nanavaty, President, CPMA presented the industry 4.0 creating requirements of skilled manpower in the plastic processing industry with changing skill set in plastics processing; sustainable products and innovative designing; technology prospects for future and new growth drivers/sub sectors/ catalyst.  

Jha stated that India can become world leader in the field of industry ready skilled workforce especially in the Petrochemical sector where CIPET can play a key role.