Anusandhan National Research Foundation’s SARAL tool to simplify scientific research papers

As part of its outreach to make scientific research more accessible, the Anusandhan National Research Foundation (ANRF), India’s newest science funding agency, has developed a tool called SARAL (Simplified and Automated Research Amplification and Learning).

This tool, the organisation’s CEO, Shivkumar Kalyanaraman said, would help generate lay person summaries of complex scientific research. This meant using Artificial Intelligence (AI) to extract information from research publications to generate “videos, podcasts, posters and presentation”, he said at a meeting organised earlier this week by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry.

The ANRF would focus on harnessing “deep science and engineering” to create “deep tech products and start-ups”, Mr. Kalyanaraman said. The organisation would be developing an “AI Science and Engineering Open India Stack” that would significantly influence “drug and chemical discovery, aerospace design, climate and weather and advanced materials and design”, he said.

This July, the Union Cabinet approved a ₹1 lakh crore Research Development and Innovation Scheme that intends to provide low interest, long tenure loans to private companies to investment in core research and development.

The Foundation’s governing council is expected to play a critical role in evaluating which sectors could receive such funds. The ANRF is envisaged as a single-window clearance mechanism for funding research and development for universities and academic institutions. It is also expected to receive about 70% of its budget from private sources. In function, it has absorbed much of the role the erstwhile Science and Engineering Research Board had played in funding scientific research.