India-UK Science and Technology Partnership dashboard unveiled

New Delhi, Nov 4 (IANS) Professor Ajay Kumar Sood, Principal Scientific Adviser (PSA) to the Government of India, and Dr David Warren Smith, the National Technology Adviser to the UK, on Tuesday unveiled the pilot version of India-United Kingdom Science and Technology Partnership (IN-UK-STP) dashboard.

The pilot version of the IN-UK-STP dashboard, jointly developed by the Office of PSA and the British High Commission in India, covers 143 bilateral projects jointly supported and implemented by various stakeholders from India and UK, from 2018 onwards.

The dashboard maps the projects in terms of funding value, implementing partners and funding agencies from both sides, according to the Office of Principal Scientific Advisor to GoI.

The project mapping is also done with respect to the India-UK Science and Innovation Council (SIC) goals, 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and broad areas of technology cooperation to understand the strategic alignment and synergy with the high-level bilateral priorities.

Professor Sood mentioned that various recent milestones in the bilateral partnerships, including the India-UK Technology Security (TSI) initiative and the bilateral trade agreement, will have a lot of complimenting strength and insights drawn from this dashboard.

He also emphasised that the dashboard could help decision makers from both sides in terms of synergising priorities, identifying gaps, and capturing the direction in which the partnership is further evolving to create a lasting impact in both our societies.

Scientific Secretary Dr. Parvinder Maini highlighted the conceptualisation of the IN-UK-STP dashboard initiative as an evidence and policy tool.

She emphasised the successful partnership with various ministries and departments of the Government of India and the Government of the UK as a catalytic force to get this initiative progressed in the right direction.

Dr. Smith acknowledged the efforts that have gone into capturing the depth of India-UK S&T partnerships through this dashboard initiative.

He noted that the insights and analytics emerging from the dashboard would help in shaping the recently announced India-UK Research and Innovation Corridor (RIC).

—IANS

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