Department of Science & Technology is having three binational Centres

New Delhi: Presently the Department of Science & Technology, Govt. of India is having three binationalCentres namely Indo-French Centre for Promotional of Advanced Research (IFCPAR)established with France in 1987, Indo-US Science & Technology Forum (IUSSTF) established in2000 with USA and Indo-German Science & Technology Centre (IGSTC) established in 2010under inter-governmental agreements.

During last three years, the following new programmes have been launched by these binationalCentres:

Indo-US Science & Technology Forum:

· Phase II of Joint Clean Energy Research and Development Centre (JCERDC)

· Research Initiative for Real-time River Water and Air Quality Monitoring (WAQM)Program

· Indo-US Fellowship for Women in Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics andMedicine (WISTEMM)

Indo-German Science & Technology Centre:

· IGSTC-CONNECT Plus Programme

Under the JCERDC Phase II program, the “UI-ASSIST: U.S.-India collaborative forsmart disribution System with Storage” project co-led by the Indian Institute of Technology,Kanpur and Washington State University, Pullman was awarded in September 2017. The projectseeks to address critical issues related to adoption and deployment of smart grid concepts alongwith Distributed Energy Resources (DERs) including storage in distribution network for itsefficient and reliable operation. Government of India and Department of Energy (DOE) of theUnited States of America have each allocated $1.5 million (INR 10.2 crores) annually for theconsortia over the period of performance (5 years).

Recognizing the importance of developing online River Water and Air QualityMonitoring (WAQM) systems, Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government ofIndia and Intel® collaborated to jointly initiate the Research Initiative for Real-time River Water

and Air Quality Monitoring Program. Four projects were identified for award in 2017-18. Ofthese, two have been funded under ‘Air’ and ‘Water’ Quality Monitoring categories respectively.

The “Indo-US Fellowship for Women in Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics

and Medicine (WISTEMM)” is a fellowship program, conceptualized by IUSSTF in partnershipwith the Department of Science & Technology (DST), to provide opportunities to bright Indianwomen students and scientists for capacity building, gain exposure and access to excellentresearch facilities in U.S. academia and labs. Since the year 2017, two calls have beenannounced and through the program, 40 young Women researchers/scientists/technologists haveundertaken research at premier US institutes/universities and labs for duration between 3-6months in front-line areas of Science, Technology, Engineering, Maths and Medicine.

IGSTC and Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (AvH) jointly launched the IGSTCCONNECTPlus Programme in May 2018. The Programme is aimed at boosting Indo-Germannetworking and long term collaboration among the participants of the Indo-German Frontiers ofEngineering Symposia (INDOGFOE), which is co-organised by the Department of Science andTechnology (DST) and the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation.

This information was given by Minister of Science & Technology, Earth Sciences and Health & Family Welfare, Dr. Harsh Vardhan in a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha today.