Science & Technology

Formal collaboration in Science and Technology (S&T) with India started with the signature of the European Community-India Science and Technology Cooperation Agreement on 23 November 2001. The agreement is implemented by the Directorate-General for Research for the European Commission and by the Department of Science and Technology for the Government of India.

S&T plays an important part in the EU-India Strategic Partnership. The Joint Action Plan which was drawn up for implementing this partnership contains a number of action points which have important S&T dimensions. The significance of EU-India cooperation in S&T has also been highlighted at the highest political level. The Joint Statement of the EU-India Summit held in Helsinki on 13 October, 2006 states that: “The EU and India recognise the critical role of science and technology (S&T) in striving towards their respective knowledge-based economies and the mutual benefits of further strengthening joint research and S&T cooperation. In the Summit in New Delhi on 30 November 2007, the leaders, in recognition of the critical role of science and technology in striving towards their respective knowledge-based economies, expressed their satisfaction with the outcome of the India-EU Ministerial Science Conference from 7-8 February, 2007. Within the framework of the India-EU S&T Cooperation Agreement which was renewed during the Summit, the leaders stated that they would welcome strengthened partnership initiatives such as joint projects with co-investment of resources in selected fields of mutual priority. The two sides agreed to explore bilateral cooperation on space policies and programmes including global satellite navigation."

The India-EU Ministerial Conference on Science in New Delhi on 7 and 8 February 2007, co-chaired by the German Federal Minister for Education and Research, Dr Annette Schavan, representing the EU's German Presidency, the European Commissioner responsible for Science and Research, Dr Janez Potocnik, and then Indian Minister for Science and Technology and Earth Sciences, Mr Kapil Sibal. The Conference has set the tone for future cooperation. The most significant recommendations of the Conference were the establishment of joint nodes for networking innovation systems, efforts towards creation of joint infrastructure for advanced research and funding systems for symmetric programmes for promotion of S&T collaboration.

The “New Delhi Communiqué”, issued at the end of the Ministerial Conference, and co-signed by the Conference Co-chairs, underlined the importance of a strong science and knowledge base as a major prerequisite for competitiveness, and the strong role of international S&T collaboration. It confirmed that the S&T cooperation between the EU and India should be based on the principles of symmetry, reciprocity, mutual benefit and, where appropriate, the co-investment of resources in joint actions. The Ministers and their representatives recognised that important “windows of opportunity” existed for a significant increase in the breadth and depth of EU-India S&T cooperation, especially through the EU’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) for Research and Technological Development 2007-2013 and India’s 11th Five Year Plan.

One new feature of EU-India S&T relations is the launch of coordinated calls for proposals. At the India-EU Ministerial Science Conference in February 2007, the two sides committed themselves to spending €5 million each every year on joint research in areas of mutual benefit. Consequently, two Coordinated Calls for Proposals have been launched so far. The first such call, launched with the Department of Science and Technology on computation materials science, attracted 25 proposals, of which six will be funded. The Second Coordinated Call, launched with the Department of Biotechnology, with co-funding of €3 million each on food, health and well being, again attracted 25 proposals, of which two will be funded. Topics for future coordinated calls for proposals include research in energy, health and the environment.

Already in FP7, some 130 Indian research organisations have been short listed for funding in over 90 projects. The cost of these projects is over €317 million with the Indian partners receiving over €17 million.

FP7 builds on the success of an already strong and growing Indian participation in EU Research Framework Programme. Between 2002 and 2006, more than 80 projects were funded within the Sixth Framework Programme (FP6) that involved Indian researchers. These projects, which cover most domains of research funded by the EU, received more than €250 million of funding, with the Indian partners receiving more than €11 million.

In addition, India is a valuable partner for the EU in major international projects such as the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) project, GALILEO, the European Satellite Navigation system, and the interlinking of India’s Education Research Network, ERNET, to its pan European equivalent GEANT2.

Five Steering Committee Meetings have been held to so far to operationalise the Cooperation Agreement. These meeting decided on the focus areas of cooperation and resulted in the organisation of several EU-India workshops, in areas such as materials research, transport research, health, biotechnology, climate change, etc.

At the 4th meeting in Brussels in November 2006, it was decided to give the cooperation a new impetus to move beyond the organisation of joint workshops to a more strategic one. A Joint Statement signed on the occasion called for strengthening the scope, quality and strategic dimensions of the cooperation based on principles of mutual interest and benefit as well as of appropriate reciprocity. Mechanisms to pursue this aim include the establishment of an “EU-India Strategic Workshop Series”, the establishment of a high-level expert group to offer advice on research areas and related issues, and the co-investment of resources on coordinated calls for research proposals in areas of shared priority.

At the fourth Steering Committee Meeting it was decided to create a dynamic road map to provide a regularly updated overview of all the actions agreed and the prospects of cooperation to be developed in the coming three years. It is expected that this road map will provide a summary of main achievements and planned activities in the different research areas and will serve as a basis for monitoring progress under the European Commission -India S&T cooperation agreement.

The strong partnership between the EU and India, their great respective traditions in science and knowledge as well as the recent political impetus provided by the India-EU Ministerial Science Conference are now being urgently translated into ambitious, high quality and mutually beneficial cooperative programmes, projects and dialogues.

Resources

Workshops and Other Activities Workshops

  • Workshop on Cultures of Governance and Conflict resolution, November 2008 pdf - 2 MB [2 MB]
  • Workshop on Clean Coal Technologies, November 2008
  • Targeted information seminars on Opportunities for Cooperation between Indian and European Union Researchers and Research Organisations (July 2008)
  • Renewable Energy Research and Technology Development (March 2008)
  • European Union India Day at the Nutraceutical Summit, Mumbai (February 2008)
  • Research Cooperation Opportunities in Nanosciences and Materials Research (December 2007)
  • Renewal of the EU-India Science and Technology Cooperation Agreement (November 2007)
  • First EU-India Strategic Workshop on Climate Change Research Needs (February 2007)
  • The first India-EU Ministerial Science Conference (February 2007)

Government to Government Meetings

  • The Fifth India-EU Joint Working Group on Information Society (September 2007)