India Joint Committee Tender

The India-EU joint steering committee on science and technology has agreed to develop and adopt a long-term strategic perspective for India-EU collaboration in research and innovation at the 13th Joint Steering Committee on Science and Technology Cooperation meeting hosted by the European Commission recently.The two sides appreciated the achievements under India EU science technology Innovation cooperation and decided to create an action-oriented agenda which can be implemented within the agreed timeline at the meeting co-chaired by Director-General for Research and Innovation of the European Commission EC Mr. Jean-Eric Paquet on the EU side and Secretary of the Department of Science and Technology DST Government of India Professor Ashutosh Sharma.Taking into account the Joint Statement and the EU-India Strategic Partnership A Roadmap to 2025 adopted at the EU-India July Summit both sides have shown keen interest for possible cooperation on ICT in particular cyber-physical-systems ICPS including artificial intelligence and robotics circular economy and resource efficiency waste-to-energy plastics etc. electric mobility and sustainable agri-food processing and so on.The important role of Mission Innovation to concentrate efforts on research and innovation to accelerate the clean energy transition necessary for a carbon-neutral planet was underlined cooperation on health beyond Covid-19 pandemic areas through global fora was also reinforced. Both sides also underlined the cooperation on polar sciences and discussed future cooperation under Horizon Europe at the virtual meeting.The two sides reiterated their commitment to human capital development including researchers training and mobility based on mutual interests and reciprocal promotion of each others equivalent programmes aiming at a more balanced flow of researchers between Europe and India.Indian side presented the key elements of new Science Technology and Innovation Policy STIP 2020 which aim to create a fit for purpose accountable research ecosystem promoting translational as well as foundational research indigenous development of technology technology indigenization facilitating open Science equity and inclusion.The Indian side proposed Implementation Arrangement IA for co-funding future joint projects under India-EU Science Technology and Innovation Cooperation to streamline the process of collaboration and to address certain issues on project evaluation selection funding monitoring and also IPR sharingdata sharingmaterialsequipment transfer mechanism and so on.During 2014-2020 42 collaborative projects amounting to a total of EUR 157 Million funding EUR 113 from H2020 EUR 44 from Government of India have been funded. The majority of these collaborations took place in the form of flagship calls on water a new generation influenza vaccine and smart grids cooperation. The mobility of researchers from both sides was significantly increased over the years and cooperation among scientists and research organisations from India and Europe strengthened.Secretary of the Department of Biotechnology DBT Government of India Dr. Renu Swarup Mr. Christophe Manet Charg d Affaires a.i. Delegation of the European Union to India and the Debasish Prusty Deputy Chief of the Mission in Brussels Dr. Sanjeev Kumar Varshney Head International Cooperation DST Ms. Maria Cristina RUSSO Director International Cooperation DG RI- EC and other officials from different scientific MinistriesDepartments DST MOES DBT also participated in the deliberations.