* IHBT team Palampur visits SRHU;*Presentations made on current R&D, patents and protocols developed

* IHBT team Palampur visits SRHU
*Presentations made on current R&D, patents and protocols developed

A five-member team (4 offline and 1 member online) of scientists, comprising Dr Rakesh Kumar, Dr Mahesh Gupta, Dr Mohit Sharma, Dr Bhavya Bhargava and Dr Rakshak Kumar ( online) from the Institute of Himalayan Bioresource Technology (IHBT), Palampur visited Swami Rama Himalayan University, Jolly Grant on January 23-24, 2024 in furtherance of the MoU signed between CSIR-IHBT, Palampur and SRHU, Dehradun. Presentations were made by the IHBT team on their current R & D; protocols developed, patents obtained and technology transferred to multiple stakeholders including many startups, companies, farmers and clusters pan India. Major focus was on sharing of end-to-end technologies developed under CSIR Floriculture Mission Phase II; CSIR Aroma Mission Phase III; Organic Farming; Food & Nutraceuticals; and Bio-process technology for Bioactive Medicinal and Aromatic plants. SRHU team shared their core R & D interests; assistance in cluster development for good quality local spices i.e. Haldi, Kesar, Hing and Ginger; their quality assurance & processing for marketing through the Rural Development Institute’s field units & Toli campus, Pauri Garhwal.m; floriculture, and local fruit-drying technology such as for apples being an integral part of the process. The Vice Chancellor of SRHU advised to initially focus on 4-5 areas for effective ground-level implementation. He suggested sharing of knowledge by IHBT for setting-up the Herbal Garden being develped by the Himalayan School for Pharmaceutical Sciences (HSPS) in an area of five acres within the campus for growing a variety of local herbs. A project for growing Shiitake mushroom by training of suitable researchers at IHBT; exchange visit of scientists from SRHU to IHBT in mid-April, 2024; and training of faculty & research fellows at IHBT were also agreed to.