Technology is the backbone to any nation, West Bengal is no exception. Technology means economy be it energy, transport, communication and any business to name. Technology is a derivative of Science, applied to the benefit of mankind. Exploitation of technology routes from two sources: borrowed or in-house developed. Advanced technology does not just come out of Pandora’s box. Like evolution of mankind matured technology is also a natural phenomenon followed by institution and ingenuity through engineering processes. The Best Technology is always a blend of interdisciplinary field of science and Engineering. We look forward to matured technology to west or east due to lack of integration of blend of technology from within the country. Interdisciplinary integration is a big task in managing new technology development, since none wish to become a second-class citizen leaving their domain of work area. Question of equal opportunity job facilities to multidisciplinary experts remain unfulfilled in our country. Independent research and development work thus leads to frustrations in many areas towards developing acceptable appropriate technology.

For the State of West Bengal, to develop Agribased industry in particular and Engineering industry in general, We need to develop appropriate technology for Agribased industry and blend of modern technology for engineering industries to boost economy. It is therefore, a challenging task for the Scientific and Engineering community to relook at these activities. Areas of activities have been identified by various agencies and departments since independence, but fruits are yet to bear successfully, may be more sincere efforts are called for. We do not think that brainpower here is dull compared to Western world. We might question about facilities and funding. It is needless to say that Government of West Bengal in particular and Government of India in general has been canalising funding/resources from various Sources since independence but without much tangible results. Product oriented Research Development is the need for the time to survive in the competitive world market. We can take examples from South East Asian Countries like Taiwan, Malaysia, Hong Kong which most of us are aware of.

Burn Standard Company Limited a Public Sector Company under Bharat Bhari Udyog Nigam Limited has been constantly exploiting their R&D activities through Corporate R&D Cell to blend technology towards new product/process development. Results are forthcoming. First in the series include biotechnologically routed technology package for the beneficiation of Magnesite ore through Co-coordinated efforts of Bose Institute in Calcutta and their Pilot Plant at Salem, Tamil Nadu. Biotechnologically beneficiated Magnesite towards removal of silica is expected to yield better quality Mag bricks essential for Steel Plants. Six to seven years of constant research effort yielded a technology package to translate lab-scale model to Pilot Plant Stage prior to full-fledged commercial scale Plant. Two more technology packages are under development to explore Possibilities of utilizing abandoned mines of high silica through High Power magnetic Microwave and Electronics interactions. Initial studies reveal encouraging results. Second in the series is the technology on Municipal Waste to Energy and Manure development again through anaerobic Biotechnology. It is for the first time in this part of the country that an attempt has been made to utilise urban waste to derive useful energy through appropriate engineering on Biotechnology route towards commercialisation. Achievements so far is to run a 5 KW Bio Gas Engine Generator set for about 8 hrs a day utilising 700 Kg/day of useful garbage input. Escalation of plant size is on the card of BSCL in stage up to 1000 KW/day plant size accepting 300 MT/day of useful city garbage. Among other R&D programmes include GTO-Chopper drives for energy conservation for Cranes, traction upto 50 KW; Laser Technology for fused magnesia and hazardous area/secured business communication; High Power Magnets for Magnesite beneficiation from abandoned mines for near 100% beneficiation. Much has been said about resource mobilisation, integration towards tangible results, however very little have been practically achieved. It appears that we all have been working in isolation, even though on pre recent dates we had been meeting, organising Seminars, Conferences, workshops, On the other hand sporadic developments are also noticed in all sectors of engineering. May be it will take some more time to locate missing links to reach our goals to stand in international standard. To speed up the process on technology exploitation for better economy, we might need to borrow technology from developed countries at a premium initially and forge ahead further to multiply cultivating our own resources during commercialisation. These few words sounds easy on reading but have proved to be very difficult to realise. All round development might all for radical change in work culture. Work consciousness and last but not the least availability or enough job opportunities to relieve human resource free from tensions for healthy growth of countries economy. We do not feel at this juncture funding as big constraints; it is to some extent a created phenomenon. Activities at other organisations include (to add from different institution/ organisation). One of the constraints in development might be lack of assessment and Integration of talents at grass root levels.