core sector communique

Germany, India to inaugurate Indo-German Science and Technology Centre

Parliamentary State-Secretary of the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research Thomas Rachel in India

Parliamentary State-Secretary of the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research, Thomas Rachel, is leading a high-ranking delegation to India on December 6 & 7.

Mr. Rachel travels to Chennai on December 6 and to Delhi a day later.

Through his Delhi leg, Mr. Rachel and his delegation will participate at the 16th Technology Summit, being held on December 7-8 at Hotel Lalit, New Delhi. Co-sponsored by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), the event is being organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in partnership with the Indian Department of Science and Technology (DST).

Mr. Rachel will deliver a keynote address on 7th December at the Technology Summit. The German Ambassador to India Thomas Matussek will deliver the closing remarks at the summit.

Afterwards, at 1230 hrs, a press conference will be held at the Regal Room in Hotel Lalit. The conference will be addressed by Mr. Rachel and Mr. Vikram Kirloskar, Chairman of the CII Technology Committee.

This year, Germany is the partner country at the Technology Summit, a second time. No other country has featured as partner country twice at this summit. German high-tech companies, universities and research institutions will be present here and will have the opportunity to interact and establish contacts with their Indian partners. To create a platform where technology partners from the around the world meet, CII and DST have been organising this flagship event for the last 15 years.

On 7th December, Mr. Rachel will inaugurate the Indo-German Science and Technology Centre (IGSTC) in Gurgaon with his DST counterpart, Dr. T. Ramasami. The IGSTC is a joint initiative of the BMBF and the DST. Both sides have committed €10 million each for joint research projects for the first five years. The IGSTC funds bilateral research projects in the field of applied sciences, bringing companies and the industry on board. Each research project involves one research institution and one company on each side (2+2 approach). The Centre's current focus lies on natural sciences, life sciences and engineering. A first set of four research projects has been selected – one in solar energy and three in biotechnology. A second call for research proposals is being prepared for early 2011.

In Chennai, on the 6th of December, Mr. Rachel inaugurates the Indo-German Centre for Sustainability at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras. Set up through an agreement between the RWTH Aachen University, German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) and IIT Madras, the aim of this centre is to bring together experts from India and Germany to collaborate in sustainability research, training and policy advocacy.

The research activities of the Centre focus on energy, water, sustainable land use, and waste management. IGCS also offers fellowships for faculty, post-doctoral scholars and PhD students as well as for projects undertaken by undergraduate students engaged in interdisciplinary work on sustainability. The Centre supports both small and large projects, initially by providing seed funding and subsequently through programme support.

This is Mr. Rachel’s second visit to India in 2010. Earlier, in March 2010, he participated at the eighth meeting of the Indo-German Committee on Science & Technology, held in New Delhi. The committee meets once a year, alternately in India and Germany. The two sides exchanged information and views on the developments and prospects in science and technology in India and Germany. The ongoing project cooperation and exchange activities were reviewed at this meeting.