India and Germany have agreed to work together with focus on Artificial Intelligence ('AI') StartUps as well as AI research and its application in Sustainability and Health care, said Dr Jitendra Singh, Minister for Science & Technology and Earth Sciences after his "bilateral" talks with German Minister for Education & Research, Bettina Stark-Watzinger.

Both the Ministers agreed that there is a lot of scope to work together in Artificial Intelligence for which experts on two sides have already met. An Indo-German call for proposals for this would be raised soon inviting proposals from researchers and industry.

Dr Jitendra Singh recalled that in November 2019, during Chancellor Merkel’s visit to Delhi, Germany and India had agreed to establish a joint research programme in Artificial Intelligence. They also decided on the extension of the Indo-German Partnership in Higher Education for another four years, with contributions of 3.5 Million Euros each.

Both India and Germany have expressed satisfaction on the ongoing Science & Technology Cooperation between the two countries which is one of the strategic pillars of our bilateral relationship. Academia, Research Institutions and Industries of both countries have strong bonding and are playing the role of catalyst in our strategic research and development partnerships.

On the third day of his official engagement in Berlin, Dr Jitendra Singh mentioned that both the countries are now working in frontier areas of science & technology, including Electric Mobility, Cyber Physical System, Quantum Technologies, Future Manufacturing, Green Hydrogen Fuel, Deep Ocean research and proposed to develop joint cooperation in these areas. Two countries have already started mapping each other’s strength in areas like application of Artificial Intelligence in Sustainability and Healthcare.

Both the Ministers expressed satisfaction on recently concluded MOU between Department of Science & Technology, Govt. of India and German Research Foundation (DFG) to support the International Research Training Groups (IRTG) program would further boost the cooperation towards capacity building targeting the training of Indian and German students for pursuing the PhD program. The maiden call for inviting proposals under this program from Indian and German research groups is already on.

Both Ministers felt delighted that several initiatives for human capacity developments in science and engineering have recently been worked out, which includes Women Involvement in Science and Engineering Research (WISER) to facilitate lateral entry of women researchers into ongoing S&T projects and Paired Early Career Fellowships creating an inclusive ecosystem for the Indo-German S&T cooperation with exchange of young researchers on both sides. Industrial Fellowships aimed at industrial exposure of young Indian researchers in a German industrial ecosystem.

Dr Jitendra Singh mentioned that the Government of India under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi gives great importance to innovation. The present Government puts emphasis on promoting the value chain of innovation, entrepreneurship and IP generation. Indian innovation system is more purpose driven rather than process driven with focus on affordability and accessibility.

Bettina Stark-Watzinger supported the idea to further strengthen bilateral scientific cooperation by partnering in emerging science & technology areas where both Germany and India have strength to work together and serve two societies.

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