Scripting a unique success story in the industry-institution partnership, the Sophisticated Test and Instrumentation Centre (STIC), functioning on the Cochin University (CUSAT) campus, has raked in Rs 1.25 crore in 2011-12 by offering its services to the industry units in and outside the state and also the ISRO.
The STIC, set up in 1995, jointly by the Kerala State Council for Science Technology and Environment and CUSAT, today supports nearly 500 industrial establishments and 1200 researchers from within and outside the state, providing highly sophisticated testing and calibration facilities, analytical instrument facility and training programs.
The electro-technical, thermal and mechanical calibration laboratories of STIC are accredited by the National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL) which makes it a sought after destination for companies.
STIC also has facilities to conduct tests for products as per the specifications of Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) and issue certificates.
Dr Jacob Philip, who heads STIC, is happy to take the institution to its current profile from what it has been earning a mere Rs 11 lakh in 2000. In the 2010-11 financial year, the revenue of STIC was `85 lakh.
“Scientists and researchers doing nano technology research get the facility to conduct tests here to identify nano materials for their experiments.
One of the main customers of STIC is the ISRO. The Satish Dhawan Centre at Sriharikota and the VSSC use the services of STIC for their thermal calibration,” said Dr Jacob Philip.
The KSEB, NTPC, Kochi Refineries, Mangalore Refineries, TELK, MILMA, the Navy, FACT, Cochin Port Trust and the units CSEZ are among those using the services of STIC.
Even grama panchayats are nowadays making use of STIC for testing street lights. STIC has a multitude of highly sophisticated testing machines, among which the X-Ray diffractometer costing `1.7 crore installed in 2010 is the only such machine in Kerala.