February 25, 2023
RM TULPULE CHARITABLE TRUST TO FUND
CLIMATE CHANGE PROJECTS WITH UP TO RS. 1 CRORE
RM Tulpule Charitable Trust issued a call for Science & Technology projects to mitigate Global Warming in January 2023. Seventy-three technology innovators responded to this call for proposal. The best seven of these projects were pitched to a panel of experts at a seminar-cum-workshop held at the MCCCIA, S.B. Road on 25th February 2023. The down selected projects will receive financial support of up to Rs. 1 crore each.
The RM Tulpule Charitable Trust was set up by Dr. Justice R.D. Tulpule after a distinguished and exemplary career spanning 50+ years as a practicing lawyer and as a Justice of the Bombay High Court and a Degree in Law with his personal assets in 2019.
Dr. Bhal Tulpule, Trustee, and himself a technology innovator based in Virginia, USA says “it is my father’s firm conviction that scientific research and technology solutions offer the most effective pathway to address Global Warming and therefore this is the principal objective of our Trust. We made a small beginning in 2019 by supporting projects including the Solar Tanda, the Solar E-Bike, Biomass and 14Trees as well as establishing a Chair at TIFR, but the time has now come to scale up and pursue more impactful projects that can make a difference.”
The focus of this year’s call has been technology projects in Green Hydrogen and CO2 Sequestration, that address a key issue, fill a knowledge or technology gap and have a demonstrable pathway to commercialisation. Responses were received from individuals, start-ups, research organisations, technical institutes and universities.
The Chief Guest for this event was Dr A. Sivathanu Pillai, Padma Bhushan, Founder-CEO and Managing Director, BrahMos Aerospace Private Limited.
Professor Ravi Gudy, Dean, ACR, IIT – Bombay, was the Guest of Honour.
Keynote addresses were delivered by Dr. Ashish Lele, Director, CSIR, National Chemical Laboratory, Pune and by Prof. Arindam Sarkar, Department of Chemical Engineering, IIT-Bombay.
Pointing to the way forward, Dr. Bhal Tulpule said “the Global Warming challenge facing humankind is immense and calls for immediate and persistent actions. There is not a moment to lose this War on Global Warming. Science and Technology are our weapons in this War and every small contribution counts.” Mr. Shashank Vaidya, Trustee added “technology projects are usually institutionally supported or self-funded till proof of concept can be established, after which they stall for want of funds. It is at this developmental stage that philanthropies like our Trust can step in and incubate such projects till these are able to attract financial investors and lenders leading to eventual commercial scale operations”. Reinforcing this view, Vipin Nisar and Ajit Advani, the Project Co-ordinators observed “fortunately, we are not alone in this task and have received tremendous in-kind support from like-minded organisations and individuals acting in an honorary capacity”. Supporting organisations including Manthan, Pune Knowledge Center, IIT – Bombay, TIFR, Venture Center, Pune and others could be seen playing an active part at the event.
In conclusion, Dr. Bhal Tulpule declared “this is just the beginning, and we hope to keep increasing the impact of the activities of our Trust by working with other like-minded organizations in the months and years ahead”.