West Bengal minister Kalyan Chakraborti on Monday launched an Emerging Quantum and Semiconductor Technologies section at the CSIR-Central Glass and Ceramic Research Institute here, aimed at boosting the state government’s push to position itself as a hub for next-generation technology investments.
Chakraborti launched the EQST section during the inaguration of the two-day national conference on ‘Quantum and Semiconductor Technologies: Innovations for the Future (CQST-2026)’.
In a statement, he said India “cannot afford to remain a bystander” as nations across the world make substantial investments in quantum and semiconductor technologies.
The state’s Minister-In-Charge of Information Technology & Electronics, and Science & Technology described the sector as one likely to shape the economy, national security and everyday life in the coming decades.
He pointed to Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Assam and Karnataka as states that have used early-policy interventions, infrastructure development and partnerships with the Centre to position themselves as attractive destinations for national semiconductor investments.
West Bengal, given its scientific heritage, has every reason to be counted among them, Chakraborti asserted.
He said the state government would work closely with the CSIR-Central Glass and Ceramic Research Institute (CSIR-CGCRI), the Science and Technology Department and other departments to explore mechanisms for facilitating quantum and semiconductor investments in West Bengal.
Chakraborti also proposed linking the newly launched EQST section with the thematic hubs of the National Quantum Mission, and called on universities and industry to develop collaborative research, technology and skill-development programmes around the sector.
On initiatives announced in the state budget, Chakraborti referred to a Science and Technology Talent Attraction Fund, an Incubation Fund and a Venture Capital Fund aimed at nurturing deep-technology start-ups, and stressed the importance of encouraging those and entrepreneurial ventures emerging from quantum and semiconductor research.
He said West Bengal’s challenge had not been a shortage of scientific talent or ambition, but the absence of a sufficiently focused institutional anchor for quantum and semiconductor research.
The minister described the EQST section as a step towards creating such an anchor, alongside institutions such as the IACS, S N Bose National Centre for Basic Sciences, Indian Statistical Institute, IIT-Kharagpur, IIEST-Shibpur and NIT-Durgapur.
The EQST section will focus on areas including superconducting quantum platforms, two-dimensional quantum materials, single-electron transistors and advanced photonics for quantum devices, building on CSIR-CGCRI’s decades of work in glass, ceramics, optical fibre and photonics, officials said.
Earlier, CSIR-CGCRI Director Prof Bikramjit Basu, in his welcome address, said India ranks second globally in peer-reviewed research publications in glass and ceramics over the last two decades.
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