NEW DELHI (TIP): President Pranab Mukherjee on Nov 5 launched Impacting Research Innovation and Technology (IMPRINT) India’, a joint initiative of country’s top educational institutes, aimed at developing a roadmap for research to solve major engineering and technology challenges relevant to India.

The initiative is based on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s suggestion that research done by institutions of national importance must be linked with immediate requirements of the society at large.

The President said it is necessary to “develop in our students a scientific temper,” which allows the flight of imagination beyond the realm of grades and classrooms.

“Promotion of research at the under-graduate level would assist such an objective. The link between progress and innovation is direct. History is witness to many nations low on resources emerging as advanced economies only on the strength of rapid technological development,” Mukherjee said while launching the project during Visitors’ Conference at Rashtrapati Bhavan here.