Outreach programme for IISF-2025 held at IMTECH, Chandigarh

New Delhi: CSIR-Institute of Microbial Technology (IMTECH) organized an outreach program for promotion of India International Science Festival (IISF) 2025 to be held from December 6-9, 2025 at, Panchkula, Haryana.

The theme of the current edition of IISF 2025 is “Vigyan Se Samruddhi: For Aatmanirbhar Bharat”. The India International Science Festival is being jointly organised by the Government of India and Vijnana Bharati (VIBHA) every year to showcase scientific progress, encourage innovation and connect researchers, students, industry and the public.

The curtain raiser event held at CSIR-IMTECH aims to disseminate the information about the IISF 2025 science festival among researchers, students, scientists, common people, etc. and to encourage them to participate in the different thematic events. 

Delivering his keynote address during the event for promotion of IISF 2025, Dr Sudesh Kumar, Director, CSIR-IHBT, Palampur emphasized on how technology has benefitted the common man and the path to bio-economy would lead to self-reliance for the country. He further highlighted on how bio-economy fosters sustainability by turning renewable biological resources into a wide range of products and energy, creating a circular system that minimizes waste and pollution.

Dr Sanjeev Khosla, Director, CSIR-IMTECH while welcoming the students and dignitaries the occasion said, “IISF is dedicated towards fostering creativity in Science, Technology and Innovation for the advancement of a prosperous India. Vigyan Se Samruddhi: for Aatmanirbhar Bharat embodies the belief that true prosperity arises from the application of scientific knowledge, transforming ideas into innovations, discoveries into development, and science into societal well-being” 

Prof S.K Tomar, President VIBHA Chandigarh, Prof. Kawalpreet, Secretary VIBHA Chandigarh and Dr Hemraj Nandanwar, Chief Scientist and Organising Secretary of the curtain raiser event at CSIR-IMTECH in their respective addresses gave a brief account of the activities of VIBHA and the role of IISF in shaping up the research ecosystem in the country.

Around 100 school students from the tri-city participated in the outreach event with their teachers and mentors. The students got an opportunity to visit various labs in IMTECH and interact with scientists to understand various facets of microbiology and biotechnology. The outreach program aims to inspire students and young researchers to undertake science as a career and uplift the scientific temperament of researchers across the country.  

Since 2015, IISF has organized ten editions across the length and breadth of the country and has expanded as a mega science festival. This year Ministry of Science & Technology, Ministry of Earth Sciences, Department of Space, and the Department of Atomic Energy, in association with Vijnana Bharati (VIBHA), is organizing the 11th India International Science Festival (IISF-2025).

CSIR-IMTECH is a national center for excellence in microbial sciences and was established in 1984 under the aegis of CSIR. IMTECH’s vision and mission are to create translational ecosystem strengthened by fundamental discoveries and to address unmet h ealthcare and industrial needs with state-of-the-art processes and platforms.