London, Oct.10 (ANI): The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine, London here today, as a step towards strengthening India- United Kingdom bilateral relations in high-technology areas.
Indian Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath and the UK Secretary of State for Trade and Industry Alistair Darling witnessed the signing of the MoU.
"India and UK are already collaborating in Science and Technology at a bilateral level under the India - UK Joint Economic and Trade Committee. CII is a member of this group and is involving industry in the area of hi- technology co-operation. This MoU will take this effort further," said R Seshasayee, President, CII here today.
"The MoU acknowledges the great importance that the Governments of India and UK attach to the development of close collaboration between India and the UK in the field of Science and Technology; responds to the pressing need for new echnology to meet the challenges of climate change, environmental damage and massive improvement in global healthcare provision," Seshasayee added.
The MoU is timely, given the increasing demands of the global marketplace for product development incorporating advanced technology and recognises Indian industries' major focus on Innovation to become path-breaker and leader in the respective fields and also growing IPR protection by Indian organisations.
It will promote joint cost-effective research in several fields between India and the UK.
The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has been working on technology related aspects of serving the industry over a ecade now. A team of specialized professionals work on various aspects of technology, including, new and emerging technologies like nanotechnology, industrial design, to name a few.
The team offers services to industry through State level Technology Development and Promotion Centres (TDCs) in states of Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu at present.
The Imperial College of Science is one of the world's top universities for science, technology and medicine, currently ranked fifth in the world for engineering and sixth for biomedicine.
It is the leading university for collaboration with industry generating over 30 million pounds per year of industry funded research revenue. The college is engaged in a wide range of research programmes and acknowledged the potential scope and benefit of collaboration with industry in India.
Imperial College has very substantially increased its interaction with India in last eighteen months. The most important development is the creation of the Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship.
CIIs technology group has long standing association with institutes across borders. The group has facilitated a seamless transfer of information for the mutual benefits. Taking this mission forward, CII and Imperial College, London are signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU).
Under the MoU, India will explore possibilities of cooperation and collaboration in the field of drug and pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, healthcare, aerospace, automotive, information and technology, energy, environment, water and nanotechnology.
Utilising Imperial's world-class academic platform, the technology transfer experience and expertise of Imperial Innovations nd Tanaka Business School's innovation management and entrepreneurship skills (No 1 in Europe for entrepreneurship), collaboration between the CII and the Rajiv Gandhi Centre will permit the cross-fertilisation of ideas between science, engineering, medicine and business in India and the UK, help companies based in India and the UK improve innovative performance and act as an important catalyst for business networking between Indian and British companies, and bringing them into each others' markets.
The MoU will also help identify collaborative projects, human research development needs , and focus on missions and awareness conferences. As per the tie-up, Imperial college will facilitate CII's CEOs visit to the college for briefing on latest developments in research in areas of interest.
CII and Imperial College would work together for promoting collaborative projects through technology transfer, technology commercialization, industrial R and D, industrial design, intellectual property rights, innovation and technology management.
The cooperation shall improve seamless flow of technologies for both the nations. The industrial R and D shall promote development of new products matching the local needs of both the countries. The United Kingdom's manufacturing strength coupled with Indian brain might touch the life of common man in someway. (ANI)
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