India, UK to collaborate on 12 new R&D projects

India and the UK today announced 12 new research and development collaborations in the fields of advanced manufacturing, smart energy grids and energy storage.
The new projects were announced as part of UK Trade and Industry's India Business Day at Edgbaston Cricket Ground in Birmingham, against the backdrop of the ongoing ICC Champions Trophy.
"Since 2008 the value of co-funded research between the UK and India has rocketed from 1 million pounds to over 100 million pounds," David Willetts, UK minister for universities and science, said.
"These projects will build on this already strong relationship, boosting collaboration between researchers and industry in advanced manufacturing and energy infrastructure. These are priority areas for both our countries," Willetts said.

"We are on track to double our trade with India by 2015 and as we move towards greater use of low carbon energy generation, there will be significant differences in supply and demand patterns and management," he said.
"Smart energy grids and energy storage are areas of significant potential for providing ways of managing future energy needs," he added.

The new projects, seven in advanced manufacturing and five in smart energy grids and energy storage, are backed by 8.3 million pounds from the UK's Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) through the Manufacturing and Research Councils UK (RCUK) Energy Programme themes with matched resources from India's Department of Science and Technology (DST).

"DST welcomes these additions to the growing portfolio of high quality research collaborations between the UK and India. These projects include some of the best researchers from the UK and India working alongside industry partners. We look forward to continuing collaboration with the UK in key strategic priorities such as these," Dr T Ramasami, Secretary, DST, told the conference via video link from New Delhi.
The new research grants involve over 30 industry partners from the UK and India, contributing over 1 million pounds to the research projects and the industry partners include Rolls-Royce, Bharat Heavy Electricals, EON, National Grid and Mott Macdonald.

The work of RCUK is supported in India by RCUK India, which is based at the British High Commission in New Delhi.
It plays a key role in the facilitation of UK-India research opportunities.
The new projects will bring together leading academic minds from various UK institutions, including Cambridge University, University College London and Imperial College, and a number of IITs from across India.