The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Indian researchers urged to participate more actively in EU programme

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jun 09, 2006

Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Indian researchers urged to participate more actively in EU programme

Staff Reporter

`EU scientists looking forward to greater participation from Indians in FP7'

MAKING A POINT: Andrew Sars, Minister-Counsellor, Head of Science and Technology, European Commission Delegation to India, Bhutan and Nepal, addressing a press conference in Bangalore on Thursday. — Photo: K. Bhagya Prakash

BANGALORE: The European Union (EU), which is enjoying improved relations with India in the field of science and technology, has appealed to Indian researchers to participate more actively at the Seventh EU Research Framework Programme (FP7).

FP7 with a grant of around 55 billion Euro would offer greater participation between Indian research scientists and EU scientists, said Andrew Sars, Minister-Counsellor, Head of Science and Technology, European Commission Delegation to India, Bhutan and Nepal, at a press conference, during Bangalore Bio 2006 here on Thursday.

Manual Hallen of the Directorate General-Research, European Commission, Brussels, said the EU scientists were looking forward to greater participation from Indian research scientists in FP7, especially in the areas of health, food, agriculture and biotechnology.

In the health sector, the framework planned to focus on biotechnology, generic tools and technologies for human health, translating research for human health and optimising the delivery of healthcare.

Approaches

He said that FP7 programme would adopt two approaches to scientific cooperation — while all collaborative research activities would be open to international cooperation, specific international cooperation actions would address specific issues of common interest for mutual benefit. Mr. Sars said participation in FP7 would lead to mutual benefits for Indian and EU scientists.

"India and EU share a proud tradition of scientific excellence as well as a strong commitment to the crucial growth of science and technology for economic growth as well as for society needs," he said.

FP6

Mr. Sars said FP6 was the most successful programme so far. Over 50 collaborative research projects that included 75 Indian participants were taken up.

The Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore, the Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai, New Delhi and Roorkie, the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, the Energy and Resources Institute, New Delhi, and the Banaras Hindu University were among the major institutions, which took part in the FP6 programme.

He said there were four ongoing projects in the area of health in which Indian scientists were involved and another two projects, which also involved Indian scientists, were being negotiated.

To a question on why EU collaborations were more with China, Dr. Sars said it was because that country had a centralised decision-making system.

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