NEW DELHI: India and Germany have launched a new initiative in collaborative Science &Technology programme that will strengthen as well as expand their S&T cooperation. Following the sixth meeting of the Indo-German Committee on Science and Technology that concluded here on Monday, officials of the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research and the Indian Department of Science and Technology (DST) identified focal areas for cooperation.

These will include nanotechnology, biotechnology, disaster management, production technology, space technology of remote sensing applications, climate change, clean and efficient energy research as well as medical research on cancer and infectious diseases and brain studies.

Briefing the media, Thomas Rachel, Parliamentary State Secretary of the German Ministry, said the new government under Chancellor Angela Merkel was keen on enhancing partnership in S&T globally and India figured prominently in that perspective.

To date, a March 2004 MoU 2004 between the DST and the DFG, the flagship German Research Foundation, governs inter-governmental research programmes. In addition, there are bilateral institutional arrangements with German institutions such as the Max Planck Society and the Helmholtz network of research institutions.

Mr. Rachel said that even within the existing framework of cooperation, India ranked second only to the United States in the number of publications with German collaborators, according to bibliometric data compiled by Forschungszentrum Julich, a research centre in Germany.

The new initiative also assumed significance in the context of the ongoing "India year in Germany," he said. During Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit to Germany in April, a joint statement was issued highlighting the importance of improving scientific cooperation. S&T MinisterKapil Sibal, who accompanied Dr. Singh, held a meeting with German Federal Minister of Education and ResearchAnnette Schavan.

The joint statement mooted the idea of setting up an Indo-German Centre for Science and Technology in India. This is likely to be given shape when the German Minister visits India in 2007, according to DST officials.

Ms. Schavan's visit would assume significance, also from the perspective of Germany holding European Union presidency next year. In particular, the possibility of Indian participation in the EU 7th Framework Programme of research would be explored, Mr. Rachel said.

A partnership industrial R&D programme that will involve the governments and the private sector of both countries has also been mooted. Tentatively it has been proposed that the governments will put in 20 per cent each and industry of the two countries 30 per cent each for funding the programme. This too will be finalised during Ms. Schavan's visit, according to the DST.

"Science Express"

Mr. Rachel said the German Ministry would support the launching of "Science Express," a train which will run throughout the country next year to make people aware of the important developments in science as well as to attract youngsters into the science stream. This was a joint proposal of the Max Planck Society and the Indian Government.

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