AGENCY
BERLIN: India and Germany, through Indo-German Science and Technology Centre (IGSTC), are all set to propose and launch a joint “Artificial Intelligence” (‘AI’) initiative on healthcare and sustainability.
This was stated here by Dr Jitendra Singh, Union Minister for Science & Technology and Earth Sciences, during the luncheon meeting hosted by President, German Research Foundation, Prof. (Dr) Katja Becker, who also happens to be a veteran Medical professional cum researcher.
Dr Jitendra expressed satisfaction that India and Germany science and technology relations have made great strides in recent years and have become truly multidimensional, spurred by a significant convergence of interests, mutual goodwill and high level exchanges. The German Research Foundation has been playing an important role and we value longstanding partnership with it.
The Minister talked about the recently concluded MoU to support the International Research Training Groups (IRTG) program towards capacity building targeting the training of Indian and German students for pursuing the PhD programme.
A call for inviting proposals from Indian and German research groups has been launched. Both of them agreed that this agreement is truly remarkable for achieving greater objectives in the projects and addressing larger problems.
Dr. Jitendra mentioned that under the visionary leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Government of India in recent time has initiated several new mission mode programs like Cyber Physical System, Quantum Technologies, Future Manufacturing, Green Hydrogen Fuel, Deep Ocean Mining etc. Govt. of India and DFG can explore working together in solving such issues of societal challenges.
Both of them agreed to explore opportunities for bilateral cooperation between India and DFG in the form of funding research projects and to initiate and intensify long-term Indo-German cooperative relationships in research. They also agreed to consider initiating International Research Training Groups (IRTG) programs with other scientific departments.
Both of them expressed happiness that a joint call for proposals in toxicology would be coming up in September 2022.
Dr. Jitendra mentioned that India has taken several steps to harness the power of Quantum computing for societal benefit. The Govt. of India has launched the National Mission on Interdisciplinary Cyber-Physical Systems (NM-ICPS) to make India a leading player in the Cyber-Physical System.
Both of them discussed the new initiatives taken by their respective governments at gender equality and the programs to address the inequalities.
Both the leaders expressed optimism that a common mechanism can be worked out to harmonise the Data protection regulations for scientific research funding between the countries.
Dr. Jitendra expressed optimism at the suggestion of starting the Collaborative Research Centres between the research communities of both countries, with a special focus on urgent and high-end science topics.