A crisis management support to overcome the impact of COVID-19 pandemic

ZONAL TECHNOLOGY MANAGEMENT CENTRE, ICAR-CIFT, COCHIN

The Zonal Technology Management Centre (ZTMC), ICAR-Central Institute of Fisheries Technology (ICAR-CIFT), Kochi, successfully organised a Webinar on Entrepreneurship Opportunities in Indian Fisheries Sector - A crisis management support to overcome the impact of COVID-19 pandemic, on 12th June 2020. The Webinar was aimed at giving an overview about the innovative technologies with business potential, developed by various fisheries research institutes under Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), and the major business support schemes offered by the government.

The programme witnessed the participation of 310 participants, belonging to diverse categories like Fisheries Industry / Processors, Exporters, Brackishwater / Freshwater Aquaculture / Farmers, Ornamental fish breeders / cage culturists, startups / entrepreneurs, Institutional and private Investors / GovernmentAgencies. There were 16 speakers from IP&TM Division (ICAR), AgrInnovate India Ltd., MSME-DI, Indian Institute of Information Technology and 8 ICAR Fisheries Research Institutes.Dr. George Ninan, Principal Scientist, and Officer-in-Charge of the ZTMC, was the moderator of the Webinar.

Dr. Ravishankar C.N., Director, ICAR-CIFT gave the introductory remarks, and spoke about the objective and importance of the Webinar. Dr. Sanjeev Saxena, ADG, IPTM, New Delhi in his special address gave an outline about the role of IP&TM Division in promoting entrepreneurship development in Agriculture sector. Dr. Sudha Mysore, CEO, AgrInnovate India Ltd gave an overview about their activities in promoting agri-business and how institutional technologies are transformed into viable business projects.Dr. K. Srinivas, Principal Scientist, NAARM, Hyderabad spoke about how the development of an entrepreneur friendly eco-system through business incubation, can help in the growth of agri-businesses and address the challenges faced by startups. Dr. Manoj P. Samuel, Head of Division, Engineering, ICAR-CIFT gave an overview on, realising / protecting the business value of a technology through intellectual property rights.Dr.A.K.Mohanty, Head of Division, Extension, ICAR-CIFT spoke about different ways to promote entrepreneurship in fisheries sector and how to effectively manage business during Covid 19 crisis.

The Officers-in-Charge of Institute Technology Management Units (ITMU) from 8 ICAR Institutes presented the potential technologies developed by the respective Institutes and explained about the technical and commercial aspects of various technologies to the entrepreneurs.Dr.P.K.Patil (ICAR-CIBA), Dr.KajalChakraborthi (ICAR-CMFRI), Dr.Priyabat Swain (ICAR-CIFA), Dr. Ganesh Chandra (ICAR-CIFRI), Dr.B.B.Nayak (ICAR-CIFE), Dr. R.S. Patiyal (ICAR-DCFR), Dr.AnutoshParia (ICAR-NBFGR) and Dr. George Ninan (ICAR-CIFT) were the speakers from ITMUs.Dr. Mathew C.D., Adjunct Faculty- Management Studies, Indian Institute of Information Technology, Kottayam, Kerala spoke about the entrepreneur support services offered by the Institute and how they incubate clients to increase the utility of technology relating to IoT and Cloud solutions for societal benefits.Shri. Martin P. Chacko, MSME-DI, Kerala explained about the novel financial schemes introduced by the Government of India to support entrepreneurs during the Covid-19 crisis.

The Webinar lasted for around 3 hours and the queries from the clients have been addressed by the ZTMC through email communication. The video of the programme has been made available for public viewing and to relevant stakeholders by posting online in ICAR-CIFT YouTube channel and in Farm Hub, an online platform by Fishing Chimes.