India and Israel to jointly collaborate in the areas of medicine, technologies, humanities, arts and social sciences

Updated on: Thursday, August 09, 2012

India and Israel signed an academic research agreement to jointly collaborate in the areas of medicine, technologies, humanities, arts and social sciences.

An MoU was signed in this regard between the University Grants Commission and Israel Science Foundation for launching a three-year 'India-Israel Joint Research Program' which would bring together scientists and researchers from two countries to carry forward academic research in these areas.

Chairman of Israel Science Foundation, Prof Benjamin Geiger said, "India is at the fore-front of research activities worldwide and the collaboration between the two nations would contribute a lot to both the countries."

Prof Geiger, who signed the agreement with UGC Chairman Ved Prakash, said there was also a lot of encouragement for Israeli scientists to forge ties with their Indian counterparts in research areas.

The program was initiated during the recent visit of HRD Minister Kapil Sibal to Israel, during which he interacted with Israel's Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz, Education Minister Gideon Sa'ar and Israel's Chairman of the Planning and Budgeting Committee Manuel Trajtenberg.

"Both sides perceive this program as one of the key components of the 20 years celebration of full diplomatic relations between the two countries," said a statement issued by the Israeli Embassy here.

As part of the programme, Israeli and Indian academic teams that aspire to conduct joint research should submit a joint application to their respective funding agencies.

Support would be up to USD 100,000 per research for a period of three years. Hailing the research collaboration between the two countries, Israel Ambassador Alon Ushpiz said "both Israel and India host some of the most cutting edge academic institutions in the world, and the linking of our researchers together comes only naturally."

He said joint academic research between Israeli and Indian scientists serves as the core platform of intensive cooperation in agriculture technologies, high-tech, clean-tech and many other areas.

"This is an indispensable layer in keeping Israel and India at the forefront of the world's scientific and technological R&D and innovation," he said.

Prof Geiger the joint research program will also advance joint scientific conventions on various fields identifying potential areas where both the countries can work together.

Asked about Israel's expertise in agriculture research, he said this is one of the identified areas where both the countries can contribute a lot.

The signing of MoU succeeded a two-day seminar here which saw the participation of academicians from India and Israel.

While UGC Chairman Prof Ved Prakash headed the Indian delegation, Prof Benjamin Geiger led a five-member delegation from Israel.

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