New Delhi: India and the UK are going to deepen their partnership in commercial research and development, innovation and delivery in education.
The UK’s Technology Strategy Board and India’s Global Innovation and Technology Alliance (GITA) would now provide direct co-funded support to innovative businesses, working on commercial research and development in areas such as smart energy and healthcare technologies.
The UK India Education and Research Initiative (UKIERI) would support Knowledge Transfer Partnerships to help place researchers in innovative businesses to support commercialisation of research.
There has been a rapid growth in four years from £1 million to over £100 million in joint-funded research partnerships between the UK Research Councils (RCUK) and India.
The potential for such cooperation was discussed at length at a round table on higher education and innovation co-chaired by David Willetts, Minister for Higher Education and Science, here this week. UK representatives noted that deepening partnerships with India was supporting quality research. It was in no one’s interest to compromise quality, and increasing numbers of UK universities were happy to find in India exactly the kind of quality partners they wanted, they said.
Participants included vice-chancellors from seven of the UK’s top universities and a cross-section of research and business leaders in the two countries. Dr T Ramasami, Secretary, Department of Science and Technology, and Professor Dinesh Singh, Vice=Chancellor of Delhi University, co-chaired on the Indian side.
On innovation hubs, participants considered models, including the Bangalore Cambridge Innovation Network, by which innovation hubs at universities can work together, and increased opportunities thanks to India’s new national knowledge network.
The roundtable also devoted a fair part of its time to debate on innovation in ways of delivering higher education, universities as innovation hubs and innovation in business.
On innovation in delivery, the Open University presented its Futurelearn massive open online course (MOOC) initiative with 17 UK universities and its Open University’s work with the Indian Ministry of Human Resource Development to provide training for 1 million teachers through online and other innovative technologies. In discussion, as well as the free access for Indian and other international students to UK education through the MOOCs, participants noted there may be no alternative to MOOCs in order to ensure a comprehensive approach to meet the huge and growing demand for quality higher education in India and other countries. They looked forward to greater UK-India partnership in this area. (UNI)