More than 50 participants including scientists, policy makers and STI organisations and science funding agencies attended the event which was held at the Het Pand Convention Centre in Ghent, Belgium.

The event marked a final milestone of three and half successful years: The INNO INDIGO and INDIGO POLICY projects, which were launched in 2013, brought together a multilevel group of stakeholders from Europe and India in order to strengthen STI collaboration. 

By now India and the EU have become important research and innovation partners: The Final Showcasing Event presented a wide range of outcomes of both projects  as well as expert perspectives. 

A GLORIOUS OPENING

The event was opened by the two consortium leaders: Ms Teresa de Oliveira (INDIGO POLICY, ZSI) and Mr Hans Westphal (INNO INDIGO, DLR) expressed their gratitude of the joint effort undertaken by the project members towards achieving the project objectives.

Dr Vijay Raghavan (DBT) and Dr Arvind Kumar (DST) also congratulated the project team of successfully extending and deepening the EU-India dialogue on STI. Also, Ms Tania Friederichs, Science Counsellor, Head of Research & Innovation Sector, Delegation of the European Union to India, pointed out the contribution of the INDIGO projects to the  IndoEuropean relationship in the context of STI.

PRESENTING THE ACHIEVEMENTS 

INNO INDIGO´s main achievement, the successful launch of four research calls was presented by Mr Hans Westphal. The funded projects were also supported to scale up their results and bring them closer to the market. For this, the Valorization Programme was launched and presented by Ms Chiara Davalli (EBN), Ms Begona Benita (GAIA) and Ms Sona Pradeep (GITA). The recommendations on Joint Indo-European PhD programmes which were developed at the workshop in Lisbon/Portugal, were presented by Ms Maria Maia (FCT). Finally, the question of continuation of the IPP-like calls was raised. Mr Hans Westphal shared the current ideas of a self-sustaining network after INNO INDIGO´s finalisation. 

INDO-EUROPEAN STI COOPERATION IN A CHANGING GLOBAL CONTEXT: CURRENT STATUS AND LOOK HEAD

In the afternoon, a panel discussion on the importance of EU-India cooperation in STI was held. Prof Dr Shyama V. Ramani, Mr Svend Otto Remøe and Dr A. Chakraborty presented their thoughts followed by a discussion moderated by Martina Desolé. The panellists reflected on how Europe and India reinforced the Strategic Partnership between the European Union and India, exploring new routes to and areas of strategic collaboration.

DISCOVER MORE ABOUT INDIGO ACHIEVEMENTS AND DOWNLOAD ALL PUBLICATIONS HERE 

NAMASTE