Minister Gyimah furthering UK-India Tech Partnership

The UK Minister for Universities, Science, Research and Innovation, Sam Gyimah in his first visit to India showed real enthusiasm in further strengthening the bilateral relationship between the two countries where he was met warmly by his Indian counterpart Dr Harsh Vardhan to co-chair the sixth UK-India Science and Innovation Council.

The ministers welcomed the growth of UK-India science partnership with collaborations rising from £1 million in 2008 to over £400 million by 2021. They were briefed by the officials about the various joint programmes majorly funded through Newton-Bhabha which is starting to show impacts on the ground and they noted the success of this joint partnership. They also shared their vision to tackle the global challenges by working together and sharing the challenges and support the UK-India Tech Partnership launched by both Prime Ministers Modi and May in April. The Science and Innovation Council concluded with reiterating that the relationship between India and the UK is stronger than any other country.

Apart from the normal bilateral meetings, Minister Gyimah showed keen interest in understanding business, tech and innovation ecosystem in India, as well as Future Tech Festival which is scheduled for 11 – 12 December in New Delhi.

So we took him to meet the start-ups at the electronics incubator in Delhi University where he interacted with innovative start-ups and Newton-Bhabha cohorts comprising of policymakers translating R&D into commercialisation and providing real life technological solutions. The minister mentioned in his tweet ‘he was really impressed by the work they are doing, particularly a new low cost ‘heart patch’ designed to monitor vital signs and general health after patients have left hospital.’

The following day we took the Minister to Chennai to showcase the Newton-Bhabha projects through poster presentation by lead principle investigators at IIT Madras campus. The minister heard their passionate stories to success which was possible through the joining hands by UK and Indian experts to address the challenges together.

Then he went to the IIT Madras Research Park where he met innovators and visited incubators to see the talent, opportunities and challenges in the Indian innovation ecosystem. At the Research Park, the minister was adventurous enough to spontaneously test ride a proto-type electric tuk-tuk all by himself. The minister’s genuine interest to engage with the people as well as furthering UK-India Tech Partnership made the visit an overall success.