The
Late Professor G. M. Nabar Felicitation Committee and the Department of Fibres
and Textile Processing Technology, Institute of Chemical Technology (ICT),
Mumbai, organised an oration by Dr Wolfgang Schumann, Managing Director of
RUDLF GmbH, Germany on Sustainability in Textiles – Utilising Natural Resources
on September 22, 2021. The Online aired program received an overwhelming
response from the students, academicians, and industry representatives from
across the world.
Professor
Ravindra Adivarekar welcomed the audience and briefed it about the significance
of the endowment, and the academic research accolades and visionary
administrative achievements of Late Professor Nabar in consolidating and
expanding the institutional standard at the global level. The family members of
the late Professor Nabar – son Vikram Nabar and daughters Veena Nabar and
Vrinda Nabar – graced this occasion and shared their gratitude. Professor
Aniruddha Pandit, Vice Chancellor welcomed everybody to the memorial lecture
and paid homage to late Professor Nabar for paving the path and raising the bar
of academic and research excellence of this institute.
Dr
GVG Rao, a distinguished alumnus of the institute and the President of Atul
Colors, introduced the speaker, highlighting the unique academic credentials of
Dr Schumann from the University of Fribourg, Switzerland, to the Harvard
Business School, USA. Gaining in-depth knowledge of the Textile Chemicals
industry by hands-on and on-site learning helped him grow the business many
folds and extend the reach across many continents and countries including a
strong foothold in India. Following the mantra of ‘Think Global, Act Localâ€Â, Dr
Schumann is transforming his organisation in terms of innovative product
development keeping sustainability at the core.
Dr
Wolfgang Schumann, Managing Director, RUDOLF Germany delivered a highly
informative and knowledge sharing lecture. He explained the approach behind
Logical chemistry to achieve Magical performance effect, the critical
importance of focussed, concept-based research keeping environment, safety and
product stewardship aspects in mind, while meeting the stringent international
norms. He shared relevant details of various innovative products based on
natural and sustainable resource utilisation, and the aspects of traceability,
trackability and circularity along with the significance of intellectual
property rights so as to safeguard the interests of the innovator in terms of
the efforts and resource spent in innovative product development. He highlighted the importance of
sustainability, and the research directed towards recycling and upcycling of
various components into reusable products.
Proposing the Vote of
Thanks, Professor R R Deshmukh, Registrar, ICT, appreciated the audience for
attentively participating in the Professor Nabar endowment lecture and
expressed gratitude to Dr Schumann for delivering the excellent talk explaining
the importance of ‘Sustainability in Textiles – Utilising Natural Resources’