Union Minister for Science and Technology Kapil Sibal and German Minister for Education and Research Annette Schavan on Tuesday signed an agreement to set up an Indo-German S&T Centre that would promote public-private partnership in scientific and industrial research. The two sides committed to spend 10 million euros each over the next five years on the centre.
The money would be used mainly as seed money for projects, with public and private partners putting in the major portion of the costs. The funding would be decided on a case-by-case basis. For projects that were of social relevance such as vaccines, the Governments would bear bulk of the costs, while those of industrial applications such as devices for automobiles, industry would be expected to bear the larger proportion of the costs.
A joint committee of experts from both countries and from both Governments and industry would screen the projects to be supported by the Centre. The panel would be dominated by representatives of industry, sources in the Union Ministry of Science and Technology said.
On the occasion of the visit of the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, to India, the two sides also signed an MoU to institutionalise the programme under which young scientists are sent every year to participate in a meeting with Nobel Laureates at Lindau in Germany. At present, the decision to send the scientists is taken each year. The agreement, on the other hand, has a three-year tenure. As a result, identification of candidates and other processes can be performed more effectively.
Anna University signs MoU
The Chennai-based Anna University, signed an MoU with Helmholtz Association for promoting joint research in different parts of the country on energy-related technologies, with particular emphasis on solar and other alternative energy sources as also on more efficient lighting and other energy devices.
Speaking to reporters after the signing ceremony, Anna University Vice Chancellor D. Viswanathan said the MoU was primarily aimed at providing support to projects for developing energy-related technologies. A steering committee of experts drawn from both Germany and India would identify the projects that could be sponsored. Support would be extended to projects both in the public and private sectors, he said.
An MoU was also signed between the Department of Science and Technology and DAAD (Deutscher Akademischer Austrausch Dienst  German Academic Exchange Service) for exchange of senior researchers apart from young researchers; an MoU between IIT, Delhi and the Technical University of Darmstadt for a joint research project on developing less heavy equipment for the manufacturing sector; an MoU among the Helmholtz Association, the Jawaharlal Nehru University and the Indian Council of Medical Research on joint studies on infectious diseases and other health; and an MoU for joint research in marine sciences between the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research and the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research in the Helmholtz Association.
International project
India is all set to formally become a partner in a 1.2 billion euro international project to answer the various questions that still remain unresolved about the evolution of the universe. The project would involve the setting up of a facility for generation of intense high energy beams of ions and anti-proton, which scientists hope would help find answers to at least some of the unresolved questions, if not all of them.
According to highly placed sources in the Union Ministry of Science and Technology, the proposal for India’s entry into the project was in the final stages of approval. It is likely to be placed before the Union Cabinet for its clearance very soon.
The major goal of the new facility, to be launched on November 7, will be to find how the elementary building blocks of the universe and the fundamental forces that act between them lead to the creation of the complex structures of matter that constitute the universe. The facility would bring together scientists from diverse fields ranging from nuclear and atomic physics, astrophysics and plasma research to materials research and biophysics and thereby initiate a broad inter-disciplinary and international science programme at one central research facility.
Germany is the main sponsor of the project, committing to pick up 75 per cent of the cost, with the balance from other partners. India has agreed in principle to contribute three per cent of the cost in the form of a sub-system or a component for the facility, with the Department of Science and Technology and the Department of Atomic Energy sharing the expenditure equally. In all, 13 countries have expressed their interest to partner the project. The other partners include Russia, Italy, Poland and Romania. Source: Hindu
