Science Ministers from India and UK discuss Green Energy collaboration

What is the News?

The Union Minister of Science & Technology held an online meeting with the United Kingdom (UK) Science Minister wherein the two discussed Green Energy collaboration between the two countries.

India-UK Science & Technology (S&T) collaboration

India-UK Science & Technology(S&T) collaboration has been growing at a rapid pace and the joint research programme has gone from an almost zero base to close to £300-400 million now.

India-UK Initiatives to promote S&T Collaboration

Science and Innovation Council(SIC): It is the apex body to review overall bilateral scientific cooperation (except strategic sector) between India and UK. It is held once in two years, alternatively in India and the UK. The last SIC meeting was held in New Delhi on 26th July 2018.

Newton-Bhabha Fund: It is supported by the UK and Indian governments to promote science and innovation partnerships between the two countries. 

Industry-Academia Partnership Programme: It has been set up under the Newton-Bhabha Fund. This initiative looks to harness links and spur networks to industry and UK expertise amongst Tier 2 and 3 engineering universities in India to build capability and improve their teaching, research and innovation outcomes.

Future S&T Collaboration Opportunities between India and UK

India and UK can collaborate on four technology value chains that contribute about half of the cumulative CO2 savings: technologies to widely electrify end-use sectors (such as advanced batteries); carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS); hydrogen and hydrogen-related fuels; and bioenergy.

Source: This post is based on the article “Science Ministers from India and UK discuss Green Energy collaboration” published in PIB on 25th Nov 2021.