Taking its expertise in innovation internationally, the National Innovation Foundation (NIF) will sign an memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Malaysian Department of Science, Technology and Innovation next month. As per the MoU, NIF will help the department in Malaysia for scouting, documenting, dissemination, insulation and capacity building of innovations.
The move is a result of a prior visit by a Malaysian delegation, led by Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Maximus Ongkili to Ahmedabad in February. The delegation visited the city to look at strategic partnerships with innovation agencies like NIF and Centre for Innovation, Incubation and Entrepreneurship (CIIE) at Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A).
A team of officials from NIF headed by executive vice chairperson Anil Gupta will be visiting Malaysia to sign the MoU with the Malaysian Department of Science, Technology and Innovation. T Ramasami, Secretary, Department of Science and Technology, Government of India will also be present during the signing of the MoU.
NIF is also slated to hold a two-day workshop in Malaysia on innovations next month.
"The MoU is an attempt to forge collaborations and exchange knowledge with Malaysia in areas of information, communication technology, renewable energy and innovation. NIF would also be holding a two-day workshop in Malaysia with a focus on innovation. While the prior visit by a Malaysian delegation in February was open-ended, we had been in touch with them later which resulted in this MoU that seeks help both organisations work in the sector of innovations," said Vipin Kumar, chief innovation officer of NIF
NIF was founded by the Department of Science and Technology (DST) in February 2000 with the main goal of providing institutional support in scouting, generating, sustaining and scaling up grassroots green innovations and helping their transition to self supporting activities.