Tata Steel Ltd.

06/22/2022 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 06/22/2022 08:08

Tata Steel Signs MoU with C-MET Thrissur and Digital University Kerala to set up India Innovation Centre for Graphene (IICG)

Mumbai, June 22, 2022

~ IICG has been envisioned to develop breakthrough graphene technologies ~

~ Tata Steel to play a pivotal role in operationalising the Centre and scaling up new technologies and applications ~

Tata Steel has joined hands with C-MET Thrissur, an autonomous society of MeitY, Govt. of India, and Digital University Kerala to set up a national 'India Innovation Centre for Graphene' (IICG), largely funded by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), and the Government of Kerala.

IICG has been envisioned to develop breakthrough graphene technologies and promote translational research with a focus on technologies to develop socially relevant products and applications working along with industry, academia, and startups. Tata Steel will assist the Centre in identifying industrial needs, participating in application development, scaling up, and developing a go-to-market strategy for selected technologies. The Company will play a key role in operationalising the Centre.

Dr Debashish Bhattacharjee, Vice President, New Materials Business, Tata Steel, said: "Tata Steel's New Materials Business ('NMB') division was set up with the vision of making the Company as well the ecosystem future ready by seeding and scaling up businesses in socially-relevant new materials. With Tata Steel's strong knowledge base in materials and market, investment in materials research and development, and ability to scale businesses, we will be able to quickly translate research ideas to market-ready products. Together with the Digital University of Kerala and C-MET we shall deliver world-class quality products and solutions to discerning customers. This industry-academia partnership on a platform provided by the Govt. through IICG will help take forward the vision of developing breakthrough graphene technologies and enabling a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship.

"I believe this Centre will act as a force multiplier, bringing industry, academia, and start-ups together under a collaborative framework to rapidly bring to market multiple products and solutions exploiting the full potential of Graphene. This endeavour will help promote innovation and entrepreneurship through design challenges, outreach programmes and incubation grants. We are excited about working with this collaborative innovation ecosystem," Dr Bhattacharjee added.

Kamesh Gupta, Chief (Graphene Business, Medical Materials, Innoventure and Innovation), Tata Steel, said: "This Centre will attract internationally renowned graphene research community, bridge the gap between scientific development and industrial deployment through collaborations. The Centre while focussing on R&D will also facilitate innovation and human capacity building, develop indigenous technology, products, intellectual property rights (IPR) and rich intellect workforce in emerging 2D material areas. It will also provide mentorship to young research scholars & startups with incubation and acceleration opportunities.

At Tata Steel, pursuing research in advanced materials is an active process. The Company started the Graphene initiative in 2016, embarked on the journey towards becoming a technology leader in the steel and materials business with the opening of New Materials Business division, focussing on graphene, composites and ceramics. In FY 2020-21, Tata Steel commissioned a 100 tonne per annum integrated Graphene manufacturing plant, one among few large single-unit graphene production facilities in the world. Graphene-doped products and graphene-coated products which can be used in diverse sectors such as materials handling, textiles, and packaging, among others, are currently being tested and are in different stages of commercialisation.

About Tata Steel

Tata Steel group is among the top global steel companies with an annual crude steel capacity of 34 million tonnes per annum. It is one of the world's most geographically diversified steel producers, with operations and commercial presence across the world. The group recorded a consolidated turnover of US $ 32.83 billion in the financial year ending March 31, 2022.

A Great Place to Work-CertifiedTM organisation, Tata Steel Limited, together with its subsidiaries, associates, and joint ventures, is spread across five continents with an employee base of over 65,000. Tata Steel has been a part of the DJSI Emerging Markets Index since 2012 and has been consistently ranked amongst top 10 steel companies in the DJSI Corporate Sustainability Assessment since 2016. Besides being a member of ResponsibleSteelTM, worldsteel's Climate Action Programme and World Economic Forum's Global Parity Alliance, Tata Steel has won several awards and recognitions including the World Economic Forum's Global Lighthouse recognition for its Jamshedpur, Kalinganagar and IJmuiden Plants, and Prime Minister's Trophy for the best performing integrated steel plant for 2016-17. The Company, ranked as India's most valuable Metals & Mining brand by Brand Finance, featured amongst CII Top 25 innovative Indian Companies in 2021 and top 10 sustainable organisations of India Hurun Research Institute in the 2021 Capri Global Capital Hurun India Impact 50, received Steel Sustainability Champion recognition from worldsteel for five years in a row, 'Most Ethical Company' award 2021 from Ethisphere Institute, RIMS India ERM Award of Distinction 2021, Masters of Risk - Metals & Mining Sector recognition at The India Risk Management Awards for the sixth consecutive year, and Award for Excellence in Financial Reporting FY20 from ICAI, among several others.

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Statements in this press release describing the Company's performance may be "forward looking statements" within the meaning of applicable securities laws and regulations. Actual results may differ materially from those directly or indirectly expressed, inferred or implied. Important factors that could make a difference to the Company's operations include, among others, economic conditions affecting demand/ supply and price conditions in the domestic and overseas markets in which the Company operates, changes in or due to the environment, Government regulations, laws, statutes, judicial pronouncements and/ or other incidental factors.

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Sarvesh Kumar

Chief, Corporate Communications - Tata Steel

E-mail: [email protected]