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India Canada sign 10 joint science and technology initiatives valued at more than $17 million news
16 June 2008

Union minister of science and technology and earth sciences Kapil Sibal and David Emerson, minister of foreign affairs and international trade and minister for the Pacific Gateway today announced 10 joint research and development (R&D) initiatives involving Canadian and India companies and researchers valued at more than $17 million.

The Union Minister for Commerce & Industry, Shri Kamal Nath meeting with the Canadian Trade Minister, Mr. David Emerson, in New Delhi
Eight of the initiatives are joint research projects while the other two initiatives are partnership development activities (PDA). PDA initiatives foster joint activities aimed at generating new or expanded research and technology-based partnerships between countries and may include such activities as scientific seminars, conferences, symposia and workshops, and activities that involve exchanges of scientists, technical experts and academics.
 
All the projects are co-funded by the federal government's 'international science and technology partnerships programme', which is delivered through the Global Innovation and Technology Alliance (GITA), jointly promoted by department of science & technology and Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and its counterpart in Canada, International Science & Technology Partnerships Canada (ISTPCanada). ISTPCanada and its Canadian partners are awarding $3.82 million to co-fund the Canadian side of these projects.  The remaining funding is provided by GITA to Indian side.

"Indian government has taken giant stride in increasing its planned expenditure in science and technology and R&D almost five times than the previous 5-year plan," said Sibal, currently in Toronto for the Pacific Gateway and the Vancouver-Whistler Olympics. "At the same time the centre has also created innovative and effective delivery mechanism to implement various programmes. GITA is one of such innovative delivery mechanisms where my ministry and Confederation of Indian Industry joined hands to manage and deliver India's bilateral Industrial R&D programmes" he added.

"Our government understands the importance of establishing international research partners and the critical role science and technology plays in the new economy," said Emerson. "These joint projects will enhance the collaboration between our scientists and commercialise their research."

The 10 joint initiatives announced today will lead to an increase of commercially-viable research and development initiatives, and contribute to the organisation of scientific seminars, conferences and workshops.

Details of the eight research projects are:

  • An intelligent aboveground storage tank bottom assessment, a project for providing quantitative methodology for integrating acoustic emission into the tank bottom maintenance management programme for the oil and gas industry. This project is led by Tisec Inc. (Montreal, Quebec) and National Metallurgical Laboratory, Material Science & Technology Division, in partnership with Samro International, India.  
  • In situ repair of ocular tissues to restore or improve sight: This project's proposed solution will be new bio-mimetic materials that affect repair by seamlessly integrating into the host tissue. The innovation is a novel method for making local repairs to the cornea, in the same manner that dental amalgam is used for fillings. However, unlike dental amalgam, which is merely biocompatible and robust filler, the project plans to reproduce the natural properties of the cornea by inducing tissue repair and regeneration. This project is led by L.V. Prasad Eye Institute, Hyderabad and Evasight Instrument Inc. (Ottawa, Ontario),  with Polymer Tech Intl., India and University of Ottawa Eye Institute as partners.
  • Mobile asset application to achieve pollution control: a project led by McMaster RFID Applications Laboratory and IIT, Delhi in partnership with IPICO Inc., Canada and Strategic Consultants, New Delhi, India. The core proposal is for carrying out research based on the platform of having to (retro fit) attach one specially-designed passive commercial transponder (RFID  Tag) to every vehicle capable of carrying significant, safe, secure and accurate information pertaining to the vehicle itself, including but not limited to its identity.  If the proposed system is implemented, and it leads to reduction of fossil fuel use by 10 per cent, the corresponding value delivery would be of the order of $220  billion and the corresponding reduction in greenhouse gases could be of the order of 4,800 teragrams of carbon.
  • Design and development of an aircraft integrated development environment tool for a new generation regional transport aircraft: This project is led by National Aeropsace Laboratories, Bangalore,  in partnership with Macmet Technologies, India. and CAE Inc, Quebec
  • Next generation of interoperable GeoPortal (iGP) Solution for the emerging Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) market:This project is led by CubeWerx Inc.,  Quebec) and Infotech (Geospatial) Enterprises Ltd., Hyderabad
  • Rapid diagnostics to improve animal health: The goal of this project is to develop a simple diagnostic device using lateral flow technology (similar to an over-the-counter pregnancy test) to allow producers to test for bovine pathogens at the biological sample point (e.g. at the feedlot or farm). This project is led by Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization (VIDO), University of Saskatchewan (Saskatoon, SK), in partnership with Safeguard Biosystems Inc. (Toronto, Ontario) and BAIF Development Research Foundation, Pune in partnership with Vetnex Livestock & Canine Business, RFCL Ltd., New Delhi, India
  • Application of biofuels for Aviation: This project is led by Pratt & Whitney Canada Corp. , and has the following partners: McGill University, National Research Council, Ryerson University, and Universite Laval,and Infotech Enterprises Ltd., Hyderabad, along with HPCL, Indian Oil, Indian Institute of Science, Indian Institute of Petroleum, Indian Institute of Technology (Kanpur).
  • Indigenisation of broadband over power line technology to connect adjoining villages in India using existing power lines: The objective of this research and development project will be to develop broadband over power line technology (BPL) to suit Indian conditions such that the technology can be deployed for large scale use. This technology will deliver multi-fold benefit to India. This project is led by Corinex Communications,Vancouverand Indian Institute of Information Technology (Allahabad) in partnership with Maple Leaf India Pvt Limited, New Delhi, India
  • Global Innovation & Technology Alliance (GITA) is a unique public-private-partnership model of executing Government programmes of bilateral R&D involving industry. GITA is established as a not-for-profit society promoted jointly by the Department of Science & Technology and Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) to manage India's Bilateral R&D programmes; Supporting Commercialisation of bilateral R&D projects; Facilitating Technology Transfers/ Joint Ventures. Currently GITA is managing India's S&T cooperation programmes with Canada, Israel, ASEAN countries and Taiwan.About
  • International Science and Technology Partnerships Canada Inc. (ISTPCanada) was incorporated with the primary objective of strengthening Canada's science and technology(S&T), business to business relations and ultimately overall economic, trade and political relations. 
  • ISTPCanada was selected by the government of Canada, through the department of foreign affairs and international trade, to deliver the India, China and Brazil elements of its International Science and Technology Partnerships Program (ISTPP).  ISTPCanada also supports early stage partnership development activity, such as workshops, symposia, conferences and exchanges which have the potential to foster increased or expanded international research collaboration.

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India Canada sign 10 joint science and technology initiatives valued at more than $17 million