US varsities visit India to foster research collaborations

A delegation of US universities visited India for the first US-India Knowledge Exchange (USIKE), interacting with institutional and government representatives to foster collaborative research and innovation in various fields between the two countries.

The USIKE sought to highlight and encourage governments of both countries to make changes to policies that could ease the ability of institutions of higher education to collaborate, according to a statement.

The initiative, launched last year by US-based organisation Sannam S4 and non-profit organisation US-India Strategic Partnership Forum, aims to identify key areas of collaborative research (private and public sector) and unlock significant funding pools.

"There is huge untapped collaborative potential between the US and Indian institutions, as well as with industry players in India, to support the acceleration of home-grown research and local development of intellectual property," said Adrian Mutton, Founder and CEO of Sannam S4, a global organisation that operates in 20 countries including India.

 

"As India harnesses its unquestionable academic and entrepreneurial capabilities, it will create greater economic prosperity and job creation and the outcomes will positively impact millions of the nations' citizens," Mutton said in a statement.

The delegation, which included representatives from Cornell University, Northeastern University, and the University of California Berkeley in the US, held meetings with senior members of the Government of India, state government officials, innovation and incubation centres, local institutions, and in New Delhi, Ahmedabad and Mumbai.

Representatives met a range of Indian government ministries to discuss operational and regulatory reform which, if enacted, would foster greater international higher education collaboration.

"Education is a natural area of partnership between the US and India and one which USISPF is actively promoting," said Mukesh Aghi, President and CEO of USISIPF.

"Educational Institutions are core to India achieving her ambitions and we have seen some exciting industry-education interplay which we are hoping will evolve into sustainable programmes in the future," Lakshmi Iyer, Executive Director and Head of Education at Sannam S4, said in the statement.