India, Israel decided to boost cooperation in science, tech

India and Israel today decided to enhance their cooperation in the field of science and technology, including establishment of a research and development fund with an investment of USD 20 million.
A high-level Israeli delegation led by Israeli Minister for Science, Technology and Space Ofir Akunis, including three members of Israeli Parliament met Union Minister for Science, Technology and Earth Sciences Harsh Vardhan.
Both sides agreed to give boost to the bilateral cooperation in science and technology under the aegis of the S&T Agreement concluded between India and Israel in 1993.
As a follow-up to the India-Israel Joint S&T Committee meeting which was held in Jerusalem earlier this year, the two ministers agreed to step up the collaboration in the next two years by providing USD 1 million from each side to support new R&D projects in the cutting edge areas of 'Big Data Analytics in Health Care' and 'Security in Cyber Space'.

Akunis' visit follows the visit of Israel President Reuven Rivlin to India last month.
The joint projects will be awarded to the partnering academic and R&D laboratories from the two countries during the next year.

As a part of these projects, student exchanges will be encouraged in order to connect the next generation and sustain the pipeline of future collaboration.
Vardhan emphasised that the two countries would like to identify new opportunities and mechanisms to expand and upscale cooperation.
India and Israel together have implemented a large number of cutting edge research projects in applied areas covering agricultural and medical biotechnology, human genomics, advanced materials and nanotechnology, imaging sensor and robotics, solar energy, communication & IT and lasers and electro-optics.

It was also agreed to consider special initiatives to support women in science and technology through new joint programmes in this area.
Further, in order to engage best and bright researchers from two countries, Vardhan suggested to hold 'Frontiers of Science and Engineering Symposium'.