The United Kingdom and India are set to sign a landmark agreement on science, research and innovation that will see several new innovative research programmes launched. The agreement, which will be signed today, will partner with the UK’s £119m International Science Partnerships Fund.
The agreement was thrashed out during a meeting earlier in the week between the UK Science Minister, George Freeman, and the Indian Minister of State for Science and Technology, Dr Jitendra Singh.
The purpose of the agreement is to allow for quicker and better collaboration on scientific research projects between the two nations. This, in turn, will result in more jobs in both countries, higher economic growth and hopefully better the lives of those living in the UK and India.
As things currently stand, there are certain barriers in the way that make collaboration unnecessarily complicated. However, through this agreement, the red tape will be removed to clear the path for groundbreaking research. The focus will be on combatting real-world problems such as climate change and pandemics.
Deepening UK collaboration with other global science superpowers
This new Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the UK and India is the latest on the growing list of partnerships that the government are establishing with other scientific powerhouses across the world.
Recently, announcements have been made on the launch of the International Science Partnerships Fund in Japan, a Memorandum of Understanding on science with Switzerland, and a collaborative deal with South Africa on agri-tech.
Talking about the latest deal with India, George Freeman said “India is rapidly building on its phenomenal software and innovation sectors to become a global powerhouse in science and technology. With our extensive trading and cultural links, shared democratic values and interest in urgent global issues from green technology and agri-tech to biosecurity and pandemic preparedness, we have very strong platforms for deepening research collaboration.”
Freeman added “today’s agreement is part of our program of deepening UK collaboration with other global science superpowers on ground-breaking innovation and research to help tackle shared global challenges. This partnership will grow the sectors, companies and jobs of tomorrow for the benefit of both our country and the globe.”
Programmes to be launched
The full list of programmes that have been announced already as part of the partnership between the UK and India are as follows:
- £5 million UK funding, matched by India, for research into Farmed Animal Diseases and Health.
- £3.3 million UK funding, matched by India, towards a technology and skills partnership programme that will enable UK and Indresearcherscher to develop skills, technologies and knowledge in areas such as AI, machine learning and bio-imaging
- The creation of UK-India Net Zero Innovation Virtual Centre, hosting the Hydrogen Valley and Industrial Decarbonisation Living Lab – to help decarbonise manufacturing and transport.
- Several UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) and Indian Department for Science and Technology (DST) joint research calls, including programmes on sustainability and solid earth hazards.
- An intention to launch a partnership for decarbonising India’s pharmaceutical and fine chemicals industries.
- A programme of UK-India university partnerships, including one between Aston University and CSIR Dehradun on sustainable biofuels.
- The Fourth annual meeting (and second in-person meeting) of the RS/INSA Yusuf Hamied programme, a scheme designed to promote relationships and knowledge exchanges between UK and Indian researchers.
- Funding 10 new UK-India Fisheries Research Fellowships.
- Further UK-India university partnerships including one between Imperial College and ICMR on pandemic and TB elimination modelling.
- A study on uscutting-edgeedge UK tech to spot diseases in shrimp aquaculture.
- A partnership on using data to detect harmful algal blooms affecting our oceans.
- A partnership to predict, spot and intercept invasive alien species that devastate farmers’ crops across South India.
- A portal on traded medicinal plants of India developed by Royal Botanic Gardens (RBG) in Kew and TDU Bangalore.
- A joint PhD programme by the University of Manchester and the Indian Institute of Science.
- Annual dialogue between the Science Museum Group in the UK and the National Council of Science Museums in India.
- ‘Twin Cities’ UK-India Marine Litter Partnership between Aberystwyth, Wales and Puducherry, India A joint PhD programme by the University of Manchester and Indian Institute of Science.
Final thought
The world is changing at a rapid pace and to stay ahead of the curve, it’s imperative to work alongside other powerhouses instead of against them in a “race” to the top. This new partnership between the UK and India can only be a good thing when it comes to broadening our scientific research and understanding, especially on top of the similar agreements we now have with Japan, South Africa and Switzerland.