A whirlwind 3 day trip to the UK resulted in an exciting development – a UK India Programme of Co-operation (POC) on joint industrial research has been signed (see our earlier press release). This is an agreement between India’s Department of Science and Technology (DST) and the UK’s Technology Strategy Board (TSB) to support innovative UK and Indian businesses to work together on the commercialisation of research. The signing took place at the evening reception of the Innovate UK conference, in the presence of Rt Hon Minister David Willetts, UK Minister for Universities and Science.
In our earlier blog on all of the initiatives being heralded by the PM’s visit, we mentioned that further discussions on a joint programme between TSB and GITA were held. GITA will be implementing the programme in India. The POC is a significant step forward in our bilateral industrial research programme.
The Innovate UK conference, jointly hosted by UKTI and TSB, was a huge event attracting thousands of visitors. Along with Mark Sinclair, I accompanied Mr Harkesh Mittal, Secretary of the Technology Development Board and Co-Chairman of GITA, Mr SK Varshney from DST and Mr Dasmohapatra who is the CEO of GITA to the conference.
We got to attend some of the sector specific seminars, including one on India’s emerging trends and technologies. We also got to see some of the most innovative projects happening in the UK as well as have numerous meetings in the sidelines. You can find out more information on events like these and innovation in the UK by signing up to _connect but watch this space for further information as the UK-India industrial research programme develops.