The Coposites Technology park
The composites technology park is located in Bangalore, Karnataka State which is one of advanced and industrialised States in India. Bangalore, the State's capital, is already well-known throughout the world as the IT and Knowledge City of India, with more than 300 IT companies, both foreign and domestic, employing about nearly 200,000 professionals and exporting goods and services of over US$10 billions annually.
The City is also a major centre of higher technical education and advanced research and development, with a large number of engineering, medical and other professional colleges, R&D Centres, public and private sector manufacturing industries etc.
The Composites Technology Park was established during 2002 at Bangalore by the Government of India, Department of Science & Technology, under its Technology Mission on Composites, with the support of the State Government of Karnataka at total estimated cost of about US dollars 3.00 million, inclusive of cost of land (7-acres), plant and machinery etc.
The Composites Technology Park is well equipped with state of art facilities, including a Technology Business Incubator, a Computer Aided Design Centre with specialized software application packages, a Materials Analysis and Testing Laboratory, Polymer Glass Fibre Development & Training Centre, a Bamboo-Composites Development and Training Centre, a Coir-Composites Development and Training Centre plus several supporting facilities for tooling, moulding, fabrication and testing of composite products.
So far, nearly 200 number of polymer composite and natural fibre (bamboo and coir) composite products have been developed for applications in housing, building construction, transportation, energy and other infrastructure development projects which are of high priority to our country. It is worth mentioning here that the technology of design and manufacture of FRP/composite doors and door frames has been patented.
The technology of composite sandwich construction techniques has already been transferred to more than 50 entrepreneurs/small scale industries in various of India for commercial production under license and distribution in the commercial market. These industries have successfully established their production units and are selling composite products worth over US$20 millions annually to a large number of institutional and individual users.
The composite products have also received the approval by various governmental and non-governmental authorities in India, including State Public Works Departments, Housing Boards / Corporations, Public / Private Sector Undertakings etc. for use in their construction projects.
In order to promote composite products as better substitutes to those made out of wood, timber, metals and concrete, a series of training programmes had also been organized at the local and national level, besides other information dissemination and publication services.
INNOVATIVE TECHNOLOGY
Recently, the innovative technology of natural fibre-composites has been developed, with a view to exploiting the vast natural fibre resources available in the country, such as, bamboo, coir, jute, banana etc. This technology involves the use of natural fibres as fibre reinforcements through a series of value-added processes like hybridization with glass fibres, resin impregnation, foaming and bonding, moulding, tooling, fabrication, testing etc.
The natural fibre based composite products that have been developed at the Technology Park include:
Bamboo-composite and coir-composite door shutters, door frames, roofing panels (to replace asbestos and tin sheets), wall panels, floor panels etc.
This eco-friendly, cost-effective natural fibre composite products have tremendous scope of applications to build low-cost houses and toilet units for the millions of homeless people not only in India but in most other developing countries in the Asia and Africa. These prefabricated structures can also be used to build schools, health centres and other community-oriented buildings in the backward, remote and rural areas.
Another application for the natural fibre composite products is in the area of disaster management, and emergency shelters could be erected at sites to rehabilitate people rendered homeless on account of floods, earthquakes, fires and other disasters.
The technology is also capable of creating self-supporting small industries at the local levels with minimal machinery and tools and investments and of generating employment for millions of people in the developing countries.
Description of technologies developed at CTP:
The CTP has the following proven technologies, which are being commercialized through technology transfer, training and incubation at all India level are given below:
- GRP Composites material and products
- Natural fibre Composites material and products
In order to provide technology transfer, training and incubation on the above specific areas, the TBI has been established with the following Centres:
- Computer aided and development centre
- material characterization and testing centre
- GRP Composites Development and Training Centre
- Coir Composites Development and Training Centre
- Bamboo Composites Development and Training Centre
- Mechanized Bamboo Mat Production and Training Centre
Research & development at CTP:
- Research & Development of GRP Sandwich Composites Materials, Process and Product Technology
- Research & Development of Coir fibre Sandwich Composites Materials, Process and Product Technology
- Research & Development of Bamboo Sandwich Composites Materials, Process and Product Technology
INCUBATOR FACILITIES IN THE REGION
The Composites Technology Park has been equipped with a wide range of facilities to achieve its basic goals and objectives.
Education and training:
- The CTP offers special training programme for finial year engineering students, fresh engineers and post graduate engineers in the area of design, fabrication and testing of composites on regular basis
Support for business start-ups:
- The Department of Science & Technology, Govt. of India, provide support for business start-ups / incubators through its Technology Development Board, the National Science & Technology Entrepreneur Board, the Technology Information & Assessment Council.
- In addition, support for business start-ups, including composites, is provided by various other State and Central Government Departments / Agencies such as the National Small Industries Corporation Ltd., the Small Industries Development Organization, Industrial Development Banks such as the Small Industries Development Bank, Industrial Finance Corporations of State Governments, Venture Capital Funds etc.
Important events, fairs, congresses in your region:
- The CTP has conducted several Marketing, Publicity & Promotional Measures for Entrepreneur Development.
- The prospects for future entrepreneur development and creation of new business ventures appear to be bright, as evidenced from the fact that the number of potential entrepreneurs and representatives of SMEs, senior officials and dignitaries from government and non-governmental organizations visited the Technology Business Incubator for Composite to see the facilities and developmental activities has been growing year after year.
As part of the project various awareness programmes conducted to popularize the natural composites materials, technology and applications.
MOST IMPORTANT SERVICES
- GRP Composites development and training Centre
- The TBI for Composites has successfully established a GRP Composites Development and Training Centre as one of its important facilities. The centers activities have already resulted in a most significant and positive development, leading to the establishment of several incubatee industries and created a business of over Rs. 100.00 Crores;
- Infrastructure and Facilities at the GRP Composites Development and Training Centre
The GRP Composites Development and Training Centre has been setup on about 20,000 sq ft, building.
The GRP Composites Development and Training Centre have been installed with major processing / manufacturing facilities as given below and it is operational for the incubatees.