ASPIRE Portal for Automotive Industry: ICAT | 18 Jul 2020

Why in News

The International Centre of Automotive Technology (ICAT) is developing a technology platform for the automotive industry called ASPIRE - Automotive Solutions Portal for Industry, Research and Education.

  • The Portal is expected to help in developing a strong and self-reliant automotive industry in India which is in tune with the vision of Make in India and Atmanirbhar vision of the Government of India.

Key Points

  • The Portal is being developed in line with the initiative by the Department of Heavy Industry (DHI) under the Ministry of Heavy Industries & Public Enterprises.
    • DHI has taken an initiative to promote innovation and to develop the related ecosystem.
  • Objective: To enhance the technological capability of Indian automotive sector through exchange of knowledge & expertise, in order to make them self reliant and to facilitate the growth of the automobile sector and overall socio-economic progress of the country.
  • Functioning: It will facilitate the Indian auto industry, R&D institutions and academia (colleges & universities) to come together for R&D, technology development, shop floor/quality/warranty issue's resolution, expert opinions on issues involving technology advancements.
    • The portal will also host grand challenges in line with the need of the industry as will be identified from time to time, for development of key automotive technologies.

International Centre for Automotive Technology

  • ICAT is a leading world class automotive testing, certification and R&D service provider under the aegis of NATRiP (National Automotive Testing and R&d Infrastructure Project), Government of India.
    • NATRiP is a fully Government of India funded project with a total project cost of Rs. 3727.30 crore.
    • The vision is to create state-of-art research and testing infrastructure to drive India into the future of global automotive excellence.
  • It was established in 2006 at Manesar, Haryana.

Source: PIB