EU, India to step up cooperation in research and innovation

India and the European Union will step up cooperation in research and innovation, according to a statement.

On areas for future cooperation, health research and bio-economy will remain high on the agenda, it said.

Jean-Eric Paquet, Director-General of Research and Innovation, European Commission, co-chaired the 12th EU-India Joint Steering Committee meeting on science and technology along with Ashutosh Sharma, Secretary of DST, here according to an official statement.

India and the EU will step up cooperation in research and innovation, Paquet said here.

To build upon the robust cooperation of the past 20 years, the EU and India intend to renew the India-EU Science and Technology Agreement for another five years, the statement said.

It was also agreed to explore new areas of cooperation to fill the knowledge gap on climate change, on renewable energy in line with Mission Innovation aiming at reducing CO2 through concentrated efforts on energy.

On artificial intelligence, importance of ethical standards was stressed, the statement said.

The EU and India acknowledged their excellent cooperation which was recently boosted by the launch of seven India-EU projects on purification of water and waste water treatment, two on vaccines and one on polar sciences, it said.