The Indo-U.S. Science and Technology Forum (IUSSTF) celebrated its 18th Foundation Day here on Wednesday in the presence of Minister for Science & Technology, Earth Sciences, Environment, Forests and Climate Change, Dr. Harsh Vardhan, and the Ambassador of the United States to India, Mr. Kenneth Juster.
IUSSTF was set up in 2000 when after nearly five decades of a close relationship, the Governments of India and the United States of America decided that it was time to create a more formal mechanism to take the engagement to the next level.
IUSSTF’s mandate is to promote, catalyze and seed bilateral collaboration in science, technology, engineering, and innovation through substantive interactions amongst government, academia, and industry. The Department of Science & Technology (DST) and the U.S. Department of the State are the nodal agencies of the respective Governments for handling matters related to the Forum.
Delivering the presidential address Dr. Harsh Vardhan noted, “Indo-U.S. Science and Technology Forum has contributed immensely in bringing both our countries closer together and has clearly demonstrated that cooperation in science and technology is driven by leveraging intellect, innovation and technological strength of both our countries that directly contribute to global knowledge economy of 21st century”.
In the 18 years of its existence, IUSSTF has developed an evolving program portfolio largely conceived and driven by the scientific community from both countries. The activities supported by it have led to the direct interaction of over 20,000 Indian and American Scientists and Engineers.
The forum currently implements a portfolio of four broad program verticals – Scientific Networks, Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Research and Development and Visitation Programmes.
The activities under `Scientific Networks’ vertical comprises of short-term engagements such as bilateral workshops, conferences and symposia and well as medium-term arrangements through virtual networked joint centers that aim to encourage collaboration in topical areas of mutual interest. More than 340 workshops and 78 joint Centres have been supported so far.
The `Innovation and Entrepreneurship’ vertical, in turn, comprises primarily of a highly popular U.S.-India S&T Endowment Fund (USISTEF) that provides grant-in-aid support of up to Rs 250 lakh (about US Dollar 400,000) through a highly competitive process, to commercialize S&T-based innovations with significant societal impact.
The USISTEF has so far supported 27 projects at a total investment of about Rs 6,090 lakh (US Dollar 94 lakh) in the areas of affordable healthcare, safe drinking water, clean energy and environment, livelihood enhancement, women’s empowerment and financial inclusiveness, amongst others. A total of 12 products have since been commercially launched.
In the `Research and Development’ space, IUSSTF has been entrusted to administer strategic bi-national initiatives that include the Indo-U.S. Joint Clean Energy Research and Development Centre; Grand Challenge on Affordable Blood Pressure Measurement Technologies for Low-Resource Settings; PACEsetter Fund to accelerate commercialization of innovative off-grid clean energy solutions; Real Time River Water and Air Quality Monitoring; and Partnerships for International Research and Education.
Under `Visitation Programmes’ vertical, which aims to address the issue of skill development and capacity building in all areas of science and engineering, IUSSTF currently administers 15 programmes across various disciplines and stakeholder levels. About 1,500 Interns and Fellows have been trained over the last 10 years. (India Science Wire)
By Sunderarajan Padmanabhan
Image Dr. Harsh Vardhan
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