 "Thales and Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay sign memorandum of understanding")
France-based Thales and Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay (IIT-Bombay) today signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to create a jointly supervised IIT Bombay-National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) PhD fellowship scheme starting July 2016.
Through this fellowship scheme, Thales and IIT-Bombay seek to fortify the Indo-French scientific collaboration including cross-cooperation between laboratories and R&D (research & development) for industrial applications.
Speaking at the ceremony, Patrice Caine, chairman and chief executive officer, Thales, said, “ Promoting R&D as a way of fostering economic development is of mutual interest to both Thales and IIT-Bombay, making this a preferred collaboration. Given our longstanding commitment to the Indian market, this is a natural step forward towards strengthening the knowledge and innovation ecosystem in the country and being even closer to our clients.”
He added, “Our strategy of collaborating with the Indian academic institutions and grooming talents is in line with the Indian government’s vision and Thales approach of sharing technologies and expertise.”
The students selected for the jointly supervised PhD fellowships will have a PhD supervisor in India and a co-supervisor in France (from one of the identified CNRS laboratories). The programme will provide highly qualified students of IIT-Bombay with the opportunity to conduct a part of their research project in both countries in areas of expertise such as advanced electronics and electromagnetics or complex system engineering. This will allow the selected students to experience cultural diversity together with establishing an international professional network.
Srinivas Kaveri, director, CNRS, in India, said, “This unique programme would not only foster research collaboration between India and France but also drive industry-led innovation while enabling students to gain immense knowledge and exposure at the same time.”
Partnering with top universities worldwide is an important aspect of innovation for Thales which created joint projects with over 50 prestigious universities and research laboratories worldwide.
