Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Science & Technology; Minister of State (Independent Charge) Earth Sciences; MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh said India and Finland have worked out a detailed plan for establishment of the Indo-Finnish Virtual Network Centre on Quantum Computing. He said, India has already identified three premier institutes viz IIT Madras, IISER Pune and C-DAC Pune for working with Finnish counterpart institutions for the Virtual Network Centre.

A Finnish delegation led by Ambassador Ms Ritva Koukku-Ronde today Called on Dr Jitendra Singh and reviewed the progress of bilateral cooperation in areas like 5G, Artificial Intelligence and Sustainability by involving, Academia, Industries and Start-ups of the two countries.

Dr Jitendra Singh said that formal announcement for establishment of the Indo-Finnish Virtual Network Centre on Quantum Computing is likely to be made during the visit of Finnish Minister of Economic Affairs Mr Lintila to India next month. The Minister also called for joint collaboration in DST initiated mission mode programs like Electric Vehicles, Cyber Physical System, Future Manufacturing, Green Hydrogen Fuel etc to address the societal challenges.

Dr Jitendra Singh said, the bilateral STI collaboration between the two countries is an attempt to stimulate innovative R&D projects that address a specific need or challenge, demonstrate high industrial relevance and commercial potential and aim to deliver benefit to both the nations.

Dr Jitendra Singh recalled that India and Finland has strong bonding in Science, Technology and Innovation. Within the framework of S&T agreement, the Department of Science and Technology, Department of Biotechnology, Government of India and the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employmentof Finland together with Business Finland and Academy of Finland have been successfully collaborating for over a decade.

Referring to Virtual Summit in last March between Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi and Prime Minister of the Republic of Finland Ms. Sanna Marin, Dr Jitendra Singh pointed out that Finland’s leading role in clean and green technologies can help India's drive towards sustainable development.

Finland Ambassador Ms Ritva Koukku-Ronde assured Dr Jitendra Singh that Finnish companies will partner with India for Carbon-neutral technologies and innovations. She also underlined that both the sides should enhance cooperation for Sustainability in Climate Change. She also invited India to explore the possibility of deeper cooperation in Finland’s Biobank project to mediate high quality human samples to medical research to promote development of new products and services that promote public health. Finland reiterated its commitment for enhanced cooperation in the areas like renewable and bio-energy, sustainability, edu-tech, pharma and digitization.

Both the sides noted with satisfaction that around 100 Finnish companies are actively operating in India in various sectors such as telecom, elevators, machinery and energy including Renewable Energy. Around 30 Indian companies are also active in Finland mainly in the IT, auto-components and hospitality sector.

An Inter-governmental S&T cooperation Agreement between India and Finland was signed on 25th March 2008. The agreement envisages sharing of experiences in national research, development and innovation policies and programmes, exchanging scientists and researchers, industrial research, joint research and development projects and joint workshops.

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