Cooperation between India and Europe - Recommendations for the creation of an Indo-European platform by studying the Indo-French model

Clarisse Faria-Fortecoëf

A report published in July 2014, by the Office for Science and Technology of the French Embassy in India, presenting outcomes of the project « INDIA SI House » aiming at fostering collaboration in Science and Innovation. This project is based on the French experience with the Cefipra (Indo-French Centre for the Promotion of Advanced), first bilateral structure of research funding in India.

France is very active in the Indo-European cooperation in research and innovation:

• More than 100 French research groups are involved in the Indo-European projects, including twenty projects coordinated by France.
• France is the third European country collaborator with India after Germany and the United Kingdom;
• Franco-Indian co-publications for 2006/2010 accounted for 1.6% of Indian publications (2.5% of Indo-German co-publications);
• This percentage increased by 0.1% compared to 2001/2005 (0.3% decrease of Indo-German publications);
• The largest number of these publications are in physics, chemistry, geosciences, life sciences, mathematics, computer and space.

From 2012 to 2014, France coordinated through the Observatory of Science and Technology (OST), the European project INDIA SI House launched at the initiative of the Scientific Service of the French Embassy in India and bringing together nine partners from seven countries: Belgium, France, Hungary, India, Italy, Poland and Switzerland.

The objective was to study the feasibility of creating an
« EU-India Joint House for Science & Innovation »  (SI House) dedicated to facilitate and enhance science-technology-innovation (STI) collaborations between India and Europe.

After a general introduction of the project, a summary in French of the study's recommendations, the document includes the final report in English and which was validated by the European Commission. This report outlines main findings at the end of the project, arguments for the creation of such a platform, recommendations on activities which should be engaged, its structure and implementation, as well as the next steps to go forward.

Among guiding principles for the future SI House:

• Fund multilateral activities in all sciences, including humanities and social sciences.
• Focus on innovation and industry participation.

Among main recommendations for its implementation :

• A guaranteed continuous funding mechanism for the SI House covering basic core functions, like the development of an online portal of all Indo-European collaborations, funding sources, partner search tool;
• a SI House in which industry takes part at all levels, both as funders and as participants;
• tailor-made processes for launching multilateral networking and mobility programmes or joint calls for proposals with a centralized coordination (joint scientific assessment, etc.).

For further information, you can download the full report from the bulletins-electroniques.com website.