Canadian and Indian companies undertake joint science and technology initiatives

Ottawa, June 15 : Union Science and Technology Minister Kapil Sibal and David Emerson, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Trade and Minister for the Pacific Gateway today announced ten joint research and development (R and D) initiatives involving Canadian and India companies and researchers valued at more than 17 million dollars.

Eight of the initiatives are joint research projects while the other two initiatives are Partnership Development Activities (PDA).

PDA initiatives foster joint activities aimed at generating new or expanded research and technology-based partnerships between countries. It may include such activities as scientific seminars, conferences, symposia and workshops, and activities that involve exchanges of scientists, technical experts and academics.

All the projects are co-funded by the Central Government's International Science and Technology Partnerships Program, which are delivered through the Global Innovation and Technology Alliance (GITA), jointly promoted by Department of Science and Technology and Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and its counterpart in Canada, International Science and Technology Partnerships Canada (ISTPCanada).

ISTPCanada and its Canadian Partners are awarding 3.82 million dollars to co-fund the Canadian side of these projects. The remaining funding is provided by GITA to Indian side. "Indian Government has taken giant stride in increasing its planned expenditure in science and technology and R and D almost five times than the previous five year plan. At the same time, the government has also created innovative and effective delivery mechanism to implement various programmes. GITA is one of such innovative delivery mechanisms where the Ministry and the CII joined hands to manage and deliver India's bilateral industrial R and D programmes" said Sibal.

"Our government understands the importance of establishing international research partners and the critical role science and technology plays in the new economy," said Emerson.

"These joint projects will enhance the collaboration between our scientists and commercialize their research," Emerson added.

The eight research projects are an intelligent system for aboveground storage tank bottom assessment; in situ repair of ocular tissues to restore or improve sight; mobile asset application to achieve pollution control; design and development of an aircraft integrated development environment tool for a new generation regional transport aircraft; next generation of interoperable geoportal (igp) solution for the emerging spatial data infrastructure (sdi) market; rapid diagnostics to improve animal health; application of biofuels for aviation: and indigenization of broadband over power line technology to connect adjoining villages in india using existing power lines.

ANI