ATIRA opens incubation centre for composites

A Focussed Incubation Centre for Composites (FICC) was recently inaugurated at Ahmedabad Textile Industry’s Research Association (ATIRA). The centre is partly sponsored by the Union ministry of textiles to promote technical textiles.

RM Sankar, principal scientific officer, ATIRA, said that they had received a grant of around Rs 3.42 crore for the incubation centre from the Union ministry of textiles. “This centre will be instrumental in developing various textiles prepared from composite materials such as carbon, glass and aramid yarns, among others,” Sankar said.

ATIRA will provide technical support, guidance and resources to entrepreneurs and research students as part of the initiative. “Our idea is to encourage research and entrepreneurship in the field of technical textiles, particularly composites. For this, we will provide the necessary expertise, guidance and technical support. We have a testing facility which can also be helpful to entrepreneurs and research students depending on their requirements,” said Dr Harish Bisht, Director, ATIRA.

The institute has collaborated with various institutes including iCreate (technology business incubation centre) along with Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India (EDII); National Institute of Design (NID); and Centre for Entrepreneurship Development (CED) of Gujarat government to rope in entrepreneurs and research students.

“We want to encourage research and development in the sector of composites as they have got a variety of applications, primarily due to certain specific properties of composites which include greater durability, light weight and resistance to high levels of heat and pressure,” Sankar said.