India, South Korea Sign Five MoUs in Science and Technology
“India Can Lead Newly Industrialising
Countries in Developing and Adopting Affordable Technologies and Processes”: Dr Harsh Vardhan
India and South Korea
signed five MoUs in the field of Science &
Technology on 9 July. Union Minister for Science & Technology, Dr Harsh Vardhan and his South
Korean counterpart, Mr. You Young Min signed three MoUs
for (i) Programme of
Cooperation 2018-21; (ii) Establishment of Future Strategy Group; (iii)
Cooperation in Biotechnology & Bioeconomy. The MoU on Establishment of Future Strategy Group was signed by
Indian Science & Technology and Commerce Ministers, while on the Korean
side, it was signed by Science and ICT and Trade Ministers.
Two other MoUs were signed between Council of Scientific &
Industrial Research (CSIR), and South Korean National Research Council for
Science & Technology and IIT Mumbai and Korea Institute of Science & Technology,
to further accelerate future-oriented cooperation in their respective sectors. The MoUs were signed at the conclusion
of the 4th India-Korea Science & Technology Ministers
Steering Committee Meeting.
In his opening remarks, Dr Harsh Vardhan said, “India can
lead the newly industrialising countries in
developing and adopting affordable technologies and processes, and demonstrate
a growth path and low energy consumption pattern that would be more sustainable
than that of the industrial countries.”
On his part, Mr You Young Min appreciated India’s self-reliance in
science and technology, especially in the R&D sector and said that both the
countries could bring synergy between Korea’s strong manufacturing base and
India’s pre-eminence in basic sciences and software sector.
The two Ministers reviewed
bilateral S&T cooperation between the two countries since the last meeting
of the Steering Committee at Seoul in November 2015. Both Ministers agreed to
establish Indo-Korean Center for Research and Innovation (IKCRI) in India,
which will act as the hub for systematic operation and management of all
cooperative programmes in research and innovation
between the two countries including innovation & entrepreneurship and
technology transfer.
The Ministers also agreed
to establish a Future Strategic Group, which will build a collaborative
platform that can utilize the potential of both the countries towards fostering
innovation and create impact which is of social and economic good. To begin
with, both sides will be co-funding collaborative enterprise-led joint
R&D projects covering (i) Digital Transformation (ii) Future Manufacturing
(iii) Future Utilities and (iv) Health Care.
It was also agreed to
jointly establish two additional India-Korea Joint Network Centres
in areas among ‘Cyber Physical
System- Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Things focused on agriculture,
energy, water and transportation and ‘Semiconductor Electronics’. These centres
will leverage existing infrastructure and funding available from the partners
on both sides in focused applied research areas, which have potential towards
technology development.
In the area of
biotechnology, New Delhi and Seoul have agreed to extend cooperation in health
and medicine, agro-fishery products developed with the adoption of
biotechnology; environment-related challenges and developing environmental and
energy sectors through bio-technology, big data biotechnology; bio-research
resources; synthetic biology, genome editing and microbiomes, etc.
Both countries renewed
the Programme of Cooperation in the field of Science
and Technology for 2018-21 to augment the cooperation in Science, Technology
and Innovation.
Mr You Young Min is part of the official
delegation accompanying South Korean President Moon Jae-in, who arrived in New
Delhi on Sunday on a three-day visit.