Genesis

The Indian space programme is oriented to the practical application of space technology which can contribute to national development. This orientation, together with the objective of self-reliance, does entail major efforts in hardware development.

However, equal emphasis is laid on building socio- technical system configurations that address specific social needs. This concern about the optimal utilization, flow of concrete benefits, and progressive impact of technology on society, has lead to the involvement of Indian space research organization (ISRO) in various areas of software such as production of television programmes, policy studies and research in society –technology interaction, social science research studies and system studies to define hardware configurations based on users' needs considering the national relevance of this work and the need to institutionalize ISRO's experience in this area, these activities were spun off from the Space Applications Centre of ISRO into the Development and Educational Communication Unit (DECU) in december1983.

The Development and Educational Communication Unit (DECU) is involved in the conception, definition, planning and socio economic evaluation of space applications programmes.

Role

The role of DECU within the overall ambit of the Indian Space programme is summarized as below

	Studying societal needs and projecting future needs that will serve as inputs to the planning of space applications system
	Conceiving defining space applications programmes to meet social needs.
	Planning policy studies for experimental and operational space applications programmes
	Organizing catalyzing demonstration projects for new applications of space and related technologies for a variety of end-users of socio-technical systems.
	Studying social, economic and cultural impact of mew technologies.
	Designing systems strategies for appropriate ”software”
	Producing suitable “software” as models/examples.
	In summary:”end links” from –the people- and to the people.

Functions /Mandate

DECUs mandate includes, in addition to its main functions, the following:

	Production of support material for ”utilization”.
	Development and adaptation of video hardware.
	Social research including communications research.
	Training and consultancy (in India and abroad), especially on overall planning of communication systems /strategies.
	Studies on planning, future technologies, cost benefit analysis of new space applications.

Unique Features

The major proportion of DECU's work relates directly to the wider INSAT community and beyond. Most of its outputs (programmes, research reports) are not amenable to direct objective assessment. Again a substantial part of its funding is from (multiple) non-ISRO sources, primarily the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting. It has considerable interaction with outside agencies.

DECU is also required to compete with products of other agencies –government, private and international. It has unique mix of disciplines and small size; “high quality” is its philosophy.