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New Delhi: Young Indian scientists keen to pursue
research in Germany need not look far for information on
universities and research facilities. A "one stop shop" is coming
up in the Indian capital to facilitate all exchange of information
on universities and funding in that country.
The German House for Research and Innovation (DWIH), coming up
near the German embassy here, will also act as a facilitator for
bilateral projects in the fields of education, science, research
and innovation.
"The idea is to bring German and Indian researchers together...It
is a big step in Indo-German research collaboration," Torsten
Fischer, director of the German Research Foundation (DFG) and the
DWIH coordinator, told IANS.
Explaining the role of the institute, which will be inaugurated on
Oct 27, Fischer said it will "act like a channel for the Indian
research community... It will bring the 14 member institutions and
universities under one roof".
An Indian researcher keen to pursue a project in a particular
field needs to contact the DWIH, which will present him/her with a
list of the possible universities or institutions to work in as
well as the names of the German researchers, he said.
The traffic will go both ways, with German researchers also going
through DWIH to contact Indian researchers and institutes.
At present, two groups of German scientists are pursuing research
in the University of Hyderabad under the auspices of the German
Research Foundation (DFG), "which has a corpus of Rs.14,000 crore
($3.1 billion), Fischer said.
"Through the DWIH we aim to bridge the gap between scientists
working in India and Germany. We will bring in our expertise on
how to apply research to industry," said the expert, adding that
it will help India and Germany create synergies.
The fields of collaborative research could be in "informatics,
chemistry - theory and applied - engineering as well as social
sciences in which there is huge potential".
"India and Germany have been collaborating in scientific research
and innovation for many years.. Now we're just putting all the
expertise together," said the official.
Giving an example of Indo-German collaboration, he said "a big
project" is under way on the theory of Information Technology and
Algorithm between the Max Planck Society (MPG) and IIT, Kanpur and
Delhi.
The project is funded by the Indian government and the DFG.
Thirteen percent of the scientific papers published by Indians is
in collaboration with German researchers, which is another example
of Indo-German scientific collaboration, said Fischer.
The number is higher than that published by Indian scientists
working with researchers from the UK and France. "Only Indo-US
scientific collaboration is higher," he said.
There has been a six percent growth in the number of Indo-German
science and technology joint projects, he said, adding that the
Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) was the top Indian
institute with which projects were on, while on the German side it
was the Technical University Darmstadt.
There are at present 6,000 Indian students in Germany. They don't
pay for their education but only for their board and lodging.
With regard to eligibility of Indian students to study in German
universities, Fischer said the proposals and the eligibility of
the applicant would be studied.
The DWIH in New Delhi is one of the five set across the world,
with the others in Sao Paolo, Moscow, New York and Tokyo.
India and Germany had signed Science and Technology Cooperation
Agreements in 1971 and 1974. The two countries have at present
more than 150 joint science and tech research projects and 70
direct partnerships between the universities, according to the
Indian foreign ministry website.
(Ranjana Narayan can be contacted at ranjana.n@ians.in)
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