Department of Scientific and Industrial Research
Encyclopedia
Several countries have organizations called the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, abbreviated DSIR.

United Kingdom

The British DSIR was the first. At the outbreak of World War I, "Britain found ... it was dangerously dependent on enemy industries". At the request of the Board of Trade
Board of Trade
The Board of Trade is a committee of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom, originating as a committee of inquiry in the 17th century and evolving gradually into a government department with a diverse range of functions...

, the Board of Education prepared a White Paper
White paper
A white paper is an authoritative report or guide that helps solve a problem. White papers are used to educate readers and help people make decisions, and are often requested and used in politics, policy, business, and technical fields. In commercial use, the term has also come to refer to...

 under the chairmanship of Sir William McCormick. The D.S.I.R. was set up to fill the roles that the White Paper specified: "to finance worthy research proposals, to award research fellowships and studentships [in universities], and to encourage the development of research associations in private industry and research facilities in university science departments. [It] rapidly assumed a key role in coordinating government aid to university research. It maintained these roles until 1965. The annual budget during its first year, 1915, was £1,000,000.

Research Laboratories that were administered by the DSIR priot to its disbandment in 1965 included:
  • Building Research Station, Watford
    Watford
    Watford is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, situated northwest of central London and within the bounds of the M25 motorway. The borough is separated from Greater London to the south by the urbanised parish of Watford Rural in the Three Rivers District.Watford was created as an urban...

     (from 1921) later renamed Building Research Establishment
    Building Research Establishment
    The Building Research Establishment is a former UK government establishment that carries out research, consultancy and testing for the construction and built environment sectors in the United Kingdom...

    , and now simply BRE
    Building Research Establishment
    The Building Research Establishment is a former UK government establishment that carries out research, consultancy and testing for the construction and built environment sectors in the United Kingdom...

  • Fuel Research Station, Greenwich, moved 1959 to Stevenage
    Stevenage
    Stevenage is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England. It is situated to the east of junctions 7 and 8 of the A1, and is between Letchworth Garden City to the north, and Welwyn Garden City to the south....

     and renamed Warren Spring Laboratory, WSL
  • National Physical Laboratory
    National Physical Laboratory, UK
    The National Physical Laboratory is the national measurement standards laboratory for the United Kingdom, based at Bushy Park in Teddington, London, England. It is the largest applied physics organisation in the UK.-Description:...

     - Teddington
    Teddington
    Teddington is a suburban area in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames in south west London, on the north bank of the River Thames, between Hampton Wick and Twickenham. It stretches inland from the River Thames to Bushy Park...

     (from circa 1917)
  • Radio Research Station
    Radio Research Station
    The Radio Research Station 1924 - August 31, 1979 at Ditton Park, Buckinghamshire, England was the UK government research laboratory which pioneered the regular observation of the ionosphere by ionosondes in continuous operation since September 20, 1932, and applied the ionosonde technology for the...

     - Ditton Park
    Ditton Park
    Ditton Park was part of the Manor of Ditton which was in what was formerly the south east corner of the English county of Buckinghamshire, before the county boundary reorganisations of 1974 & 1998 which moved it to the Slough Unitary Authority, which is in the ceremonial county of Berkshire.Ditton...

     (from 1924)
  • Road Research Laboratory
    Transport Research Laboratory
    TRL is a British transport consultancy and research organisation based at Wokingham Berkshire with approximately 500 staff. TRL is owned by the Transport Research Foundation , which is overseen by 80 sector members from the transport industry. TRL also own small UK regional offices situated in...

    , Crowthorne
    Crowthorne
    Crowthorne is also a suburb of Johannesburg, South AfricaCrowthorne is a village and civil parish in the Bracknell Forest district of south-eastern Berkshire. It has a population of 6,711...

     (from 1933)
  • National Engineering Laboratory
    National Engineering Laboratory
    The National Engineering Laboratory was originally one of several large government-funded public research laboratories in the UK, staffed by scientists and engineers of the Scientific Civil Service...

     - East Kilbride
    East Kilbride
    East Kilbride is a large suburban town in the South Lanarkshire council area, in the West Central Lowlands of Scotland. Designated as Scotland's first new town in 1947, it forms part of the Greater Glasgow conurbation...

     (later transferred to the DTI)

India

The Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR) is a part of the Ministry of Science and Technology
Ministry of Science and Technology (India)
The Ministry of Science and Technology is the Indian government ministry charged with formulation and administration of the rules and regulations and laws relating to science and technology in India.The current minister is Shri Vilasrao Deshmukh....

, which was announced through a Presidential Notification, dated January 4, 1985 (74/2/1/8 Cab.) contained in the 164th Amendment of the Government of India (Allocation of Business) Rules, 1961. The Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR) has a mandate to carry out the activities relating to indigenous technology promotion, development, utilization and transfer. It also oversees the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), India's largest research and development organization.

Department of Scientific & Industrial Research (DSIR) is the nodal department for granting recognition to in-house R&D units in Industry, Scientific and Industrial Research Organizations (SIROs); and registration to public funded research institutions, universities, Indian Institutes of Technology
Indian Institutes of Technology
The Indian Institutes of Technology are a group of autonomous engineering and technology-oriented institutes of higher education. The IITs are governed by the Institutes of Technology Act, 1961 which has declared them as “institutions of national importance”, and lays down their powers, duties,...

, Indian Institute of Science, Regional Engineering College
National Institutes of Technology
The National Institutes of Technology , are a group of higher education engineering institutes in India. Comprising thirty autonomous institutes, they are located in one each major state/territory of India. On their inception decades ago, all NITs were referred as Regional Engineering Colleges ...

 (RECs), other than hospitals.

A complete directory of all recognized In-House R&D Units: http://www.dsir.gov.in/direct/08dir_rdi.

Each year DSIR awards the DSIR National R&D award for Outstanding R&D achievements in various areas/sectors of industry.

New Zealand

Founded in 1926 by (amongst others) Ernest Marsden
Ernest Marsden
Sir Ernest Marsden was an English-New Zealand physicist. He was born in East Lancashire, living in Rishton and educated at Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School, Blackburn, where an inter-house trophy rewarding academic excellence bears his name.He met Ernest Rutherford at the University of Manchester...

. Reconstituted into profit-motivated entities called Crown Research Institutes
Crown Research Institutes
In New Zealand, Crown Research Institutes are corporatised Crown entities charged with conducting scientific research.Crown Research Institutes date from 1992, with most formed out of the parts of the former Department of Scientific and Industrial Research and of elements of various government...

 by the Crown Research Institutes Act 1992, with some further consolidation since.

Australia

The Australian equivalent is called the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation
Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation
The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation is the national government body for scientific research in Australia...

(CSIRO).

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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