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Tuesday, Sep 16, 2008
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Opinion - Interviews

‘We want to encourage joint “beacon projects” between science and industry’

R. Ramachandran

We have made much progress over the past three years , says German Federal Minister for Education and Research Annette Schavan

— Photo: K.V. Srinivasan

IIT Madras director M.S. Ananth (left) with Union Minister for Science and Technology Kapil Sibal and German Federal Minister for Education and Research Annette Schavan at the golden jubilee celebration of Indo-German cooperation in higher education in Chennai.

The Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IITM) in Chennai was the first of the IITs to be established in the country. It was set up with German assistance in 1958 following a visionary Indo-German agreement of cooperation in higher education and research between the German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer and the Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. This became the trendsetter for the other IITs to be set up with similar cooperation with other developed countries. It was, therefore, only appropriate that the present German Federal Minister for Education and Research, Ms Annette Schavan, inaugurated the Golden Jubilee celebrations of the IITM on September 8. It is also appropriate for another reason. India now figures prominently in the efforts of the present German government under Chancellor Angela Merkel, herself an accomplished scientist, to enhance partnership in science and technology globally. The joint statement issued by Chancellor Merkel and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in April 2006, which highlighted the importance of scientific cooperation, is testimony to that. In this significant upturn in the Indo-German S&T cooperation, in particular realising the ideas set out in the joint statement, Minister Schavan has played a very important role by taking a keen personal interest. She has already made three visits to India in this short span. The high point of her efforts was when, during Germany’s EU presidency, she marshalled all the European science ministers to attend a major Science Summit in Delhi, something that was unprecedented. This has enabled India to participate as equal partners in the European Seventh Research Framework Programme (FP7).

One of the ideas mooted in the Joint Statement was the setting up of an Indo-Germen Science and Technology Centre (IGSTC) in India. What was originally proposed as a virtual centre was decided during Minister Schavan’s first visit in 2007 to be established as a real well funded centre, complete with administrative staff and infrastructure in NOIDA near Delhi. This was to have been originally inaugurated during Chancellor Merkel’s visit in 2007 but getting the act together took more time than expected. This new Centre was inaugurated now during Minister Schavan’s current visit on September 9. Excerpts from the brief interview that the minister gave on that day to the Science Correspondent, R. Ramachandran: (The questions were in English to which the minister replied in German. An official interpreter present translated the answers):

Minister Schavan, you have just returned from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras after attending its Golden Jubilee function in Chennai. The establishment of this IIT was certainly a high point in the early years of scientific cooperation between India and Germany. In retrospect how do you view this investment that Germany made?

The agreement signed by Chancellor Adenauer and Prime Minister [Jawaharlal] Nehru at that time was the beginning of Indo-German cooperation in science and research. It also was the beginning of one of the most renowned institutions of research across the world. The IIT Madras is a highly renowned partner to many research groups in Germany today and its outstanding position is highlighted by the fact that I am accompanied by all the nine presidents of German technical universities. IIT Madras will therefore continue to be one of the highlights of scientific and technical cooperation at least over the next decade.

Has it really lived up to the expectations that Germany had when it took this big step?

Absolutely yes. Today, in the international context it is one of the outstanding institutions. It has clearly surpassed all expectations that we had at that time regarding scientific and technological cooperation and it has become a part and parcel of national and international institutions of excellence.

In spite of that, isn’t it correct to say that German investment in cooperation in science and technology in the subsequent period did not rise to that kind of level? One might even say that it declined over the years. Why was that?

We must say that in the 1950s the political elite had a very forward-looking wisdom. Konrad Adenauer must have always suspected that India would become a very strong partner in technological development. But at later times the cooperation was less active. But that has clearly changed a lot in the last three years. One of the best examples is the agreement on a particular privileged partnership, which Chancellor [Angela] Markel and Prime Minister [Manmohan] Singh signed. The policy of research [cooperation] will underscore the mainstay in implementing this privileged partnership. This is, in fact, my third visit in two years.

How have the programmes in science and technology cooperation that were initiated in the last three years progressed?

We have much progress over the past three years and this is also due to the constant intensive dialogue with my colleague Mr. [Kapil] Sibal. We have many new exchange programmes. The New Passage to India programme is one of them. We have the annual meeting with the Nobel Laureates in Lindau and next year we will combine it with the India Day. And not the least The Science Express that attempted to showcase science and research to the society. The experience with The Science Express was so good that we now plan to have a similar train running in Germany as well. It has also generated interest among other countries. It is a good way to popularise science among the people. All these are parts of a package of substantial measures that have formed a firm basis for the privileged partnership [between the two countries] and these will expand as we go along. We now have the new Institute for technology transfer. We will also be signing an agreement on Research in Science for Sustainability

The setting up of the Indo-German Science and Technology Centre (IGSTC) that you initiated during your visit last year, and which you just referred to, is now being formally established. Can we expect this centre to take science and technology cooperation between the two countries to similar heights?

The institute certainly can become a similar success story. [Though] the priority of this new institute will not be education and basic research as we had with the IIT [Madras] but will be technology transfer. Certain aspects [of the centre] are quite different and quite new. On both sides we will have both industry and science involved as partners. So this will be a good addition to what we have already in Madras [Chennai]. And it is also clear that this new institute will, of course, be built on the experience of the past 50 years with Madras.

So what ideas do you have in terms of areas that you would like to enter into with the industry in India?

The main task of the new institute is, as I said, to improve technology transfer. Here, India is facing the same problems as we are looking at in Germany. How to bring science and industry closer together? How to speed up technology transfer? And how to bring application from basic research through the entire value addition chain to a new product? How to speed up this process? This will be the main focus of this new centre. It has a clear mission: to encourage the creation of joint “beacon projects” between science and industry.

Have the modalities of operationalising these centres been worked out? For instance, the financial terms, particularly the shares of the two entities on both sides?

India and Germany will both invest 10 million Euros each over the coming five years. So it is an equal partnership. In addition to these investments of the governments there will also be the investments of the companies involved because the second factor is that cooperation between science and industry will lead to greater investment in research and development by the industry.

There was an earlier proposal, I think, that the industry will contribute 60 per cent and the governments 40 per cent. Is that working out? Has the industry shown enough interest in this venture?

That is a desirable objective. There is interest certainly…

So what are the areas that have been identified?

The first area that has already been identified is production technology, a research project called LeanID, which focuses on the future demands and lean production systems. Another very important topic is renewable energy and improving energy efficiency. Germany is a leader in environmental technologies. What is important to India is innovation in fields like solar energy, in particular photovoltaics, and German as a leader can certainly make a contribution. Another important area where India needs technological know-how is energy efficiency. Particularly in countries where more people need energy access, it is important to focus on ways to raise energy efficiency right from the beginning. Other areas will be biotechnology and health research. In all six joint projects have been identified with a total funding of over 300,000 Euros.

Will these energy projects have some kind of linkage to the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) of the UNFCCC?

There is certainly a manifest interest in that direction. I am very optimistic that the programmes initiated by the institutes and industry working together will be able to generate such high-tech projects. This science-industry alliance has worked very well in the new High-Tech Strategy of Germany.

During your Presidency of the EU you brought all the European Science Ministers for a major Science Summit to India last year. What has been the fall-out of that, particularly the Indian participation in FP7?

At the EU level we have found a number of European partners that have interested in partnership with India to enable India participate in the FP7 projects.

What is the status of the FAIR project in which India is already a partner with financial contribution as well? The Joint Convention is yet to be ready for all the participating countries to sign so that the project could begin.

We will be signing that very soon.

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‘We want to encourage joint “beacon projects” between science and industry’