The Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR) has been contributing significantly to the progress of Scientific and Technological development in the country, apart from making modest contributions in developing high quality human resources in trans-disciplinary areas. Several CSIR labs are engaged in conducting industry-oriented training/ skilling programmes that have been well accepted by users. In tune with the Government Policy, CSIR in its Platinum Jubilee Year mounted a major programme – CSIR Integrated Skill Initiative at various levels across different CSIR laboratories. The programme was launched by Dr. Harsh Vardhan, the then Hon’ble Minister of Science & Technology and Earth Sciences and Vice President, CSIR on September 23, 2016 which covers different domains of industrial/service sectors. The launched skill programmes of various levels have catered to a diverse cross section of people beginning with school dropouts to farmers to ITI diploma holders to graduates. CSIR has taken skill/training programme as a great opportunity to extend its technical expertise for the benefit of the society.

The aim of this unique programme is to equip young minds with necessary technological skills through exposure to research laboratories at national level that address the technical skill gap created by enormous usage of advanced technology. The purpose of this programme is to encapsulate all CSIR skill-based training under one roof to cater to a diverse cross section of people at various levels. 

Formal commencement of the programme started in the year 2018 with a budget sanction of Rs.3984 lakhs for two years which was completed in March 2020. The measurable outcome of this initiative during 2018-20 was around 38500 trained manpower through 1695 training programmes across various sectors and
disciplines of scientific topics pan India. The Second Phase commenced in April 2020 and so far, completed 1685 programmes with around 83000 trained manpower.
The five-year programme of CSIR Integrated Skill Initiative - Phase II has started in the month of April 2020
and will continue till March 2025.

Participating CSIR Labs in CSIR Integrated Skill Initiative - Phase II (2020-25): CSIR-CCMB, Hyderabad;
CSIR-CDRI, Lucknow; CSIR-CFTRI, Mysuru; CSIR-CIMAP, Lucknow; CSIR-IGIB, New Delhi; CSIR-IHBT, Palampur; CSIR-IICB, Kolkata; CSIR-IIIM, Jammu; CSIR-IMTECH, Chandigarh; CSIR-IITR, Lucknow; CSIR-NBRI, Lucknow; CSIR-CLRI, Chennai; CSIR-CECRI, Karaikudi; CSIR- CSMCRI, Bhavnagar; CSIR-CIMFR,Dhanbad; CSIR-IICT, Hyderabad; CSIR-IIP, Dehradun; CSIR-NCL, Pune; CSIR-NEIST, Jorhat; CSIR-NIIST, Thiruvananthapuram; CSIR-AMPRI, Bhopal; CSIR-CBRI, Roorkee; CSIR-CGCRI, Kolkata; CSIR-CMERI, Durgapur; CSIR-CRRI, New Delhi; CSIR-IMMT, Bhubaneshwar; CSIR-NAL, Bengaluru; CSIR-NML, Jamshedpur; CSIR-NEERI, Nagpur; CSIR-SERC, Chennai; CSIR-NIScPR, New Delhi; CSIR-4PI, Bengaluru; CSIR-CSIO, Chandigarh; CSIR-CEERI, Pilani; CSIR-NGRI, Hyderabad; CSIR-NIO, Goa; CSIR-NPL, New Delhi (37 nos.)

CSIR-Human Resource Development Centre (HRDC), Ghaziabad has been entrusted with the responsibility of facilitation, monitoring and evaluation of the Programme as the Nodal Office. CSIR- HRDC is exploring possible collaboration with individual Sector Skill Councils (SSC) to widen its technical  contribution to the National Occupational Standards (NOS) in the years to come.