[CA] NIOT

Vice President Mr. M. Venkaiah Naidu urged scientists to come up with innovative solutions to conserve water resources and tackle problems like climate change and pollution.

Vice President inaugurated the silver jubilee celebrations of National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT), the Vice President said technology was needed for protection of coastal areas from negative impacts of climate change and for development of blue coastal infrastructure for the benefit of society. The Vice President pointed out that blue economy includes intangible economic benefits such as carbon sequestration, coastal protection, cultural values and biodiversity.

On the occasion, the Vice President also launched the Coastal Flood Warning System app for Chennai (CFLOWS- CHENNAI) developed by the NIOT. He also released a commemorative postal stamp brought out on the occasion.

The NIOT was established in November 1993 as an autonomous society under the Ministry of Earth Sciences, Government of India by the then Department of Ocean Development.

NIOT has established itself as one of the premier institutes in the world, working on various ocean technologies. During this period, NIOT has demonstrated several technologies for societal applications such as Desalination plants, Data and Tsunami Buoy Network in Indian waters for collecting real time oceanic data, sea cage culturing in open sea, shore protection. NIOT is also working on continuous expansion to take benefits of these technologies to the doorsteps of common citizens of country.

NIOT has developed niche technologies to mine manganese nodules from deep sea, has developed several deep sea systems like remotely operable vehicles, etc. and is striving hard to bring India on par with developed Nations in the area of Ocean Technology. NIOT has to its credit many technologies which have been transferred to Indian industry as part of “Make in India” programme of Govt. of India, like the floating drifter, robo coastal observer, remotely operable vehicle etc. The infrastructure at NIOT includes hyperbaric chamber for testing of underwater systems and state-of-the-art research ships.

NIOT will be the nodal institution for implementing the proposed Deep Ocean Mission, which encompasses all the areas of Ocean technology like development of manned submersible, offshore large scale desalination, Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC), extensive survey of the oceans, acquisition of new ships etc.