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The three Centres of Excellence set up here at a total investment of Rs 604.8 crore are finding good traction among the advanced manufacturing industries and the research and development community, said T.R.B. Rajaa, Tamil Nadu Minister for Industries, Industrial Promotion and Commerce.

The three centres set up a year ago are accelerating the state’s advanced manufacturing, R&D and Industry 4.0 capabilities.

The Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation Ltd (TIDCO) set up the three Centres of Excellence -- Tamil Nadu Centre of Excellence for Advanced Manufacturing (TANCAM) collaborating with Dassault Systemes at an outlay of  Rs 212 crore; Tamil Nadu Smart and Advanced Manufacturing Centre (TANSAM) at an investment of Rs.251.54 crore with Siemens; and Tamil Nadu Advanced Manufacturing Centre of Excellence (TAMCOE) in collaboration with GE Aerospace at an outlay of Rs141.26 crore.

In just about a year since their inauguration by Chief Minister M.K. Stalin, all the three centres have gained tremendous traction within the advanced manufacturing, Industry 4.0 and R&D community of the state, Rajaa said.

“This demonstrates how a progressive government, through its initiatives and prudent management, can facilitate close collaboration between industry, academia, and startups, thereby advancing and accelerating the sustainable and technologically advanced industrialization of Tamil Nadu,” the minister said.

These centres are equipped with state-of-the-art hardware and software infrastructure, offering expertise in various sectors, including automotive, aerospace and defence, construction, electrical, electronics, healthcare, textiles, and more, all under a single roof.

According to Raaja, TANCAM has been actively providing design solutions to about 54 companies, comprising 33 industries and 21 startups.

Forty-two Memorandums of Understanding (MoU), including agreements with four industry associations, have been signed during this period.

TANCAM has established institution spoke centres at various places like Salem, Namakkal and Coimbatore. These initiatives aim to expand the network of the Centres of Excellence with the goal of providing technical services and capacity building to industries in their proximity.

The centre has recently partnered with Khay-Zen System India Pvt Ltd to advance Bio Digester products and develop New Product Development (NPD) Unmanned Ground Vehicles (UGV) in collaboration with Kalam Technology Centre.

According to the Tamil Nadu government, TANSAM has inked 41 MoUs, including agreements with two international companies, four industry associations, 16 industries, and 11 startups. TANSAM has also received problem statements from 16 small and large enterprises.

Some of the projects of TANSAM are:

* Collaborating with SRIHER on the development of healthtech modules, such as virtual reality (VR) enabled medical procedures, to enhance the experiential learning of medical students.

* AtumX, a social robot startup supported and mentored by TANSAM, has secured its first 100 orders for their product and received funding through grant and investor initiatives.

* TANSAM provided New Product Development (NPD) solutions for Food Printers Pvt Ltd, a startup working on smart kitchen solutions.

* Gantham, a smart rice cooker startup, received design and analysis solutions from TANSAM to support its product prototyping.

TAMCOE set up by TIDCO partnering with GE Aerospace has inked six MoUs involving three business partners and three industries. Some of the prominent large industries that have expressed interest in TAMCOE include TASL, Defsys, Dhruvaspace, Uniteq, MMF, IITM/KRG, L&T Defence, BEL and a few confidential organisations.