With partnerships in research, science and innovation in East and Northeast India, the joint investment between the UK and India is expected to grow from almost £1 million in 2008 to over £400 million by 2021, said a release issued by the British Deputy High Commission.
The UK will continue to grow its already strong research partnership with India with tech-focused investments that focus on issues of global importance including agriculture, clean energy, global health and the environment,
Stating that a number of research partnerships have been forged between the UK and Indian research institutions from the Eastern region of India, it said the states of Assam, West Bengal and Odisha have been at the forefront of this partnership.
It also said the science and research partnerships between the UK and Indian institutions in these three states are on advance material, nanotechnology, biomedical sciences, sensor technology (water quality), data science, material science (human health), energy, Climate Science, Chemical Sciences – Water quality & Human Health, Sensor research/Health research and Chemical Sciences (energy and waste).
In addition, research partnerships on Stem Cell Research and Biotechnology, Advanced Material Telecommunication system, Geological Sciences and Sensor research/Solar Energy are also at the forefront, it added.
In Assam, the academic research collaborations are on between IIT Guwahati, Dibrugarh University and Tezpur University and their UK counterparts. While IIT Guwahati and University of Cambridge are collaborating on material science research (Peptide Based Semiconducting Materials for Organic-electronic devices), IIT Guwahati and Tezpur University were collaborative partners on one-two projects.
The release also said Tezpur University is collaborating with University of Essex on health research, with Nottingham University on chemical sciences, and with University of Southampton on Advanced material including nanotechnology.
Dibrugarh University is collaborating with Kings College London on nanotechnology (Development of biodegradable CNS-targeted nanoparticles for a novel therapeutic approach in chemotherapy of Neuro-AIDS), it added.
In West Bengal and Odisha, joint research is undertaken between IIT Kharagpur, IIT Bhubaneshwar, NIT Rourkela, Jadavpur University, Bengal Engineering and Science University Shibpur, Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science, Kolkata, Indian Institution of Science Education and Research, Kolkata, Calcutta University, and their UK counterparts. IIT Kharagpur led on two recently concluded Smart Energy Grids projects, the release further said.
The India-UK Research and Innovation collaborations form a living bridge between the two countries, and this relationship is transformative, creating new shared economic opportunities, it added.