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Indo – French Cooperation
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Science and Technology
Cooperation in the field of Science and Technology is strengthening and expanding under the aegis of the ‘Indo-French Joint Committee for Scientific and Technological Cooperation (IFJCSTC) which meets alternately in France and India every year. Exchange of scientific and technological experts is taking place in key areas of research through a variety of focused agreements signed between several Indian Ministries or specialized organizations and their French counterparts. These programmes are monitored by the Department of Science & Technology / CSIR and French Ministry of Higher Education & Research /CNRS.
S & T
2. The Indo-French Centre for Promotion of Advanced Research (CEFIPRA) (www.cefipra.org) is the nodal framework promoting scientific cooperation in fundamental and applied research, frontier technologies and exchange of scientists and post-doc researchers. At its last Governing Body meeting (Paris, January 2009), led from the Indian side by Secretary DST, CEFIPRA agreed to further strengthen the scope of joint research projects, organize high visibility seminars on water, sustainable development, environment, transport etc. with the active participation of industries and explore new avenues of funding to augment its budget. These decisions are being implemented by the ‘Scientific Council’ and ‘Industrial Research Committee’ of CEFIPRA, which held its sessions in France during May 2009.
Medical Research and Public Health
3. A strong collaboration exists between ICMR (www.icmr.nic.in) in India and INSERM (www.inserm.fr) in France in this domain. During the last bilateral meeting of the Health Ministers of both countries (Paris, January 2008), it was agreed to expand cooperation in new areas of joint medical research, medicine and public health. France has also offered to assist India in developing new vaccines and set up advanced medical laboratories in India. A joint ‘International Associated Laboratory in Neurosciences’ has since been set up at the National Brain Research Centre, Haryana (www.nbrc.ac.in). Cooperation in biomedical sciences was reviewed at the last ICMR-INSERM Joint Working Group meeting held at Agra in November 2008.
Biotechnology , Water Technologies, Geological Sciences
4. Collaboration to develop better water technologies is underway through a variety of joint projects in the form of ‘Indo-French Cell on Water Sciences’ at Bangalore (www.iisc.ernet.in), ‘Indo - French Centre for Ground Water Research’ at Hyderabad (www.ifcgr.net/main.html) and ‘Indo-French Programme for Research on Weather & Climate’ at Goa (www.cmmacs.ernet.in). The Geological Survey of India (www.gsi.gov.in) and the Bureau de Recherches Geologiques et Minieres (www.brgm.fr) have since 2008 expanded their institutional cooperation into areas of geo-thermal energy, ground water resource management, sub-soil storage of CO2 and geological mapping. Combined research and training of scientists in the fields of biotechnology, bioinformatics, pharmacogenomics and agrarian research (ICAR) is separately going on between Department of Biotechnology (www.dbtindia.nic.in) and laboratories of the Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (www.inra.fr).
Applied Sciences
5. Joint research in these fields is continuing through multi-disciplinary projects such as the Indo-French Cell on Sciences, Indo-French Cell on Bioprocess for Environment, Indo-French Centre for Organic Synthesis, Indo-French Virtual Laboratory of Solid State Chemistry, Indo-French Institute of Mathematics and a proposed Indo-French Lab on Green Chemistry.
6. The ‘Indo – French Joint Statements’ issued at New Delhi (25 January 2008) and at Paris (30 September 2008) have reiterated the bilateral commitment to further intensify cooperation in the fields of scientific research and applied technology (www.meaindia.nic.in). In recognition of the deep trust and mutual respect for the high technological capabilities of the scientific communities, the Indian Academy of Sciences (www.ias.ac.in) has awarded the prestigious ‘Raman Chair’ (2009-2010) to Prof. Marc Fontecave of the French Academy of Sciences (www.academie-sciences.fr).
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