IIT-Ropar to host G20 Education Working Group meet in Amritsar next week

IIT, Ropar, will host the second G20 Education Working Group meeting in Amritsar from March 15 to 17 with a focus on identification of relevant policies and best practices for research and innovations

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Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Ropar, will host the second G20 Education Working Group meeting in Amritsar from March 15 to 17 with a focus on the identification of relevant policies and best practices for research and innovations, officials said on Monday.

The theme of the meeting is "Strengthening Research and Innovation through collaboration".

IIT-Ropar Director Rajeev Ahuja said the event would help in ensuring a roadmap for multi-partner collaborations to facilitate accessibility and provision of research materials, reducing the gap between industry and academia and thereby discovering and identifying relevant policies and practises for research and innovations.

"This would lead to establishing long-lasting collaborations for equitable quality research in G20 member nations while following the theme of 'Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam' - One Earth, One Family, One Future.

"Through this event, the government intend to create closer ties with the G20 member nations and collectively respond to the issues each country has in reaching sustainable development goals," he said.

According to Ahuja, the discussions will also concentrate on methods and tactics such as cooperative initiatives that could be undertaken or implemented to encourage collaboration in many fields.

The participants in the meeting will also include representatives of international organisations such as UNESCO, UNICEF, the World Bank and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), among others.

"The event will emphasise research and innovation as well as the effect of collaboration on the performance of G20 member nations.

"The key sessions on research and innovations would help reduce inequalities inside and between countries, innovations for sustainable agriculture for getting high yield and reducing food waste, the role of academia in cheap and sustainable energy research and innovation and innovations for environmentally conscious and accountable industrialization," a senior official of the Ministry of Education said.

"Focusing on women and socially and economically disadvantaged groups, the deliberation would also help in strategizing methods to expand collaboration among G20 member nations to improve research, open access and innovation promotion and to reduce barriers towards research mentoring and cross-institutional collaboration etc," the official added.

The first meeting of the G20 Education Working Group was held in Chennai earlier this year. There would be three supplementary meetings of the education group before arriving at a broad consensus in June this year.