The International Centre of Automotive Technology(ICAT) has launched an automotive technology e-portal, Automotive Solutions Portal for Industry, Research and Education(ASPIRE). The key objective of this portal is to enhance the technological capability of Indian automotive sector through exchange of knowledge & expertise.
- It was launched to facilitate the initiative of the Department of Heavy Industry (DHI), Govt. of India to promote, R&D and product development in India for various sectors.
Key Info
i.A step towards this mission is creation of technology platform e-portals where such technology development, information exchange and innovation can be facilitated.
ii.DHI through organisations under its aegis, is creating technology platforms for various sectors to facilitate its initiative.
iii.In Regard to this, 5 other portals are being developed for specific sectors by different organizations namely:
Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited(BHEL) for power sector equipment, HMT(formerly Hindustan Machine Tools Limited) for machine tools, CMFTI for manufacturing technology, ICAT and Automotive Research Association of India(ARAI) for the automotive sector.
Objective of these portals– To create an ecosystem that brings together the solution seekers and problem solvers. These include, industry, academia, research institutes, start-ups, professionals and experts
About ASPIRE
i.The e-portal will act as a one stop solution to provide a technology platform. The enhancement of Indian auto industry, will make them self-reliant and also facilitate the growth of the automobile sector and overall socio-economic progress of the country.
ii.It will facilitate the Indian auto industry(including Original Equipment Manufacturer -OEMs, Tier 1 Tier 2 & Tier 3 companies), R&D institutions and academia (colleges & universities) on matters involving technology advancements.
iii.The portal will also host major challenges in line with the needs of the industry identified from time to time for the development of key automotive technologies.
Phase-I of ASPIRE made live
i.The ASPIRE portal was made live in its initial version on 15th July, 2020 as Phase-I. The portal can be accessed through https://aspire.icat.in.
ii.Phase-I includes, connecting the users and experts on the portal for functionality assessment.
iii.Phase II is expected by August 15, 2020. This will include the posting of domain specific challenges, team formation and finalizing the milestones for the execution of projects.
iv.The portal is likely to be fully functional by 15thSeptember, 2020 with hosting the Grand challenges and providing an elaborate resource database and project monitoring and execution.
About ICAT
Headquarters– Manesar, Haryana
Director– Dinesh Tyagi
