Upping the technology cooperation, India-Canada has agreed to jointly set up a bilateral centre for dedicated science and technology activities between the two countries.
This comes after Union science and technology (S&T) minister Jitendra Singh following a meeting with a Canadian delegation said the renewal of two MoUs between India and Canada is proposed to be signed in the upcoming joint committee meeting in May.
While the first MoU relates to the National Science Engineering Research Centre, Canada, and it is a project-based scientific exchange programme along with the development of human resources in basic and applied sciences of direct relevance to society, the second agreement relates to the National Research Council (NRC), Canada, and it is an industrial R&D project-based scientific collaboration.
According to Singh, India has already established a few bilateral centres with other countries including US, Germany and France that are dedicatedly working on various useful S&T schemes between partner countries.
The Canadian delegation led by its minister of international trade, export promotion, small business and economic development Mary Ng reviewed the progress of bilateral cooperation with Singh in several key areas, including green technologies, advanced engineering and manufacturing, agriculture and food technologies, digital transformation, energy conservation and healthcare. Discussions are on to finalise possible terms and conditions for the cooperation.
Singh said that the future economy is premised on high-quality research and innovation, and invited Canada to tap the unexplored areas like ocean and sea missions in India.
Singh said CSIR is keen to develop research collaborations with Canadian R&D institutions. Singh also called for more youth exchange programmes between India and Canada and joint startups in key areas of research.
Singh said the S&T department has also been supporting industrial R&D projects with Canada, which have the potential for application. A total of 10 projects have been supported for industrial R&D till now.
Mary Ng expressed a desire to also deepen cooperation in areas like biotechnology, renewable energy and climate change through applied research mode.
