Dr. R. A.Mashelkar with Shri Deepak Mehta our MD, inaugurating DRDF's new facility

This agreement between DNL and NCL will represent a new model for public-private partnerships wherein the research expertise, inventive spirit and resources of a leading publicly funded research laboratory and the process engineering and development skills, manufacturing expertise and business insights of an established private sector company will be combined to develop innovative new processes and products while also delivering end-to-end research services .

The DRDF will be the first such facility to be set up in the newly opened NCL Innovation Park. The NCL Innovation Park is a 43,000 sq m facility being developed by the NCL to support the birth, growth and expansion plans of research and knowledge-based chemical business entities through critical stages of their growth by providing ready-to-occupy space with easy access to knowledge centers (like NCL), knowledgeworkers, business networks and other resources.

The NCL Innovation Park shall also be home to the Venture Center, a business incubator. The Venture Center will initially occupy 10,000 sq ft of built up area and aim to nucleate and nurture technology and knowledge-based enterprises.

Speaking at the inauguration of DRDF, Shri Deepak Mehta, MD, Deepak Nitrite said, ``We are very happy with this partnership as it adds a new dimension to innovation and technology creation at DNL. At Deepak Nitrite, R&D and marketing have been the two drivers of growth. We have always used home grown technologies to fuel our growth. This partnership will give a further boost to our technology development activities and our foray into contract research and outsourcing. We also hope that this partnership will lead to the creation of valuable intellectual property and know-how that will benefit both organizations. ''

Dr Sivaram welcomed the setting up of DRDF in the NCL Innovation Park premises. He said, "The NCL Innovation Park will operate with the public good in mind, even though it will be privately funded and will have private organizations occupying it. We understand that the environment and culture at NCL Innovation Park will be different than that of an institute like NCL. The synergy of industrial and public research laboratory working hand in hand will be beneficial to both and ultimately to the customers.''

Speaking on the occasion, Dr. Mashelkar congratulated DNL and NCL on taking this initiative and said that companies occupying the NCL Innovation Park would actually have the privilege of having access to the "mind space of NCL" which was something much more valuable than the physical resources of NCL. He hoped that both DNL and NCL would use this opportunity to work together on daring and innovative projects with the potential of creating long-term value for all.