Engage Nobel Laureates to deepen India-Japan bilateral partnership, says Amb. Verma
Science and Technology is one of the important fields to which both the Indian and Japanese governments attach the highest values, the Japanese Ambassador Satoshi Suzuki said at an international seminar. He also pointed out that areas like outer space with joint missions to moon, biotechnology, AI, nanotechnology and quantum technology are exciting fields for cooperation for researchers between the two countries to contribute for making lives better for society.
Underlining that the Japan-India relationship has experience rapid and significant expansion in recent years, the envoy noted that the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) has been playing a pivotal role in fostering Japan’s relationship with India through its wide spectrum of academic and scientific programmes.
Amb. Satoshi was speaking at the India-Japan Science and Technology Seminar on 7 Dec 2021. The two-day seminar was jointly organized in hybrid mode by the Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences & Technology, an autonomous institution of the Department of Science and Technology (DST), and Indian JSPS Alumni Association (IJAA) to commemorate the 70th anniversary of India Japan diplomatic relations.
JSPS President Dr. Susmu Satomi highlighted that the society has established, maintained and strengthened networks of researchers. Indian JSPS alumni association, established in 2006, has over 400 members among whom many are top-notch researchers who globally represent India’s science and tech community.
“India and Japan have established and maintained a peaceful and successful relationship over the past 70 years. In S&T, both governments agreed to establish cooperation in the field of biotechnology, information, and communication technology. JST and DST have been heavily involved in cooperation in these areas with around 21 projects till now since 2006,” stressed Dr. Kishi Teruo, Director General, Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST) Sakura Program.
Addressing the seminar, Principal Scientific Adviser to the Indian Government, Prof K Vijay Raghavan, underlined the need to build upon the foundation of student exchange and individual collaboration between India and Japan to evolve to bigger missions between the two countries for addressing the demands of the entire planet and the region.
“Focusing on handling of data, machine learning and artificial intelligence, S&T has a very important role to play to address ever emerging global challenges as we go forward and the cooperation between India and Japan need to scale up based on the cooperation that we already have,” Prof Raghavan said while delivering the keynote addresses at the seminar titled ‘Nobel Laureate S&T Seminar Series: India-Japan Science and Technology Seminar’.
Sanjay Kumar Verma, Ambassador of India to Japan, underlined called for engaging Nobel Laureates to help further enhancement of deepening India-Japan bilateral partnership.
India and Japan are fully engaged in various aspects of diplomacy, including S&T, and the event presents an occasion to celebrate almost 70 years of diplomatic relationship, which started in the year 1952.
Amb. Verma urged the scientific community and the innovators to work together to find solutions for problems that “we are facing independently but have common threats through co-innovation, co-promotion and co-creation”.
DST Secretary Dr. M. Ravichandran informed that the two countries have “very recently” established 3 joint India-Japan laboratories in the area of ICT, AI and Big data.
“Our present collaborations are directed towards creating a value-based relationship which can contribute to the 21st-century knowledge economy. We are encouraging youngsters to carry out research work with more international exposure,” said Dr. Ravichandran.
Around 570 Indian school students and researchers have visited Japan under Sakura science program. The year-long active S&T talk series will bring back vigor of India Japan collaboration, he added.
“In the current scenario, collaboration between various institutes, agencies and the government is indispensable for the benefit of people at large,” Prof. Ajit Kumar V. K. Director, SCTIMST, underlined.
Nobel Laureate 2018 in Physiology/Medicine, Prof. Tasuku Honjo, in his keynote address, spoke about the future prospects of Cancer Therapy and the role of scientists from all over the world in it.
The online sessions consisting of keynote presentations, special addresses, invited talks, plenary lectures from renowned scientists across India and Japan, and student poster presentations were live-streamed across 10 schools from Kasaragod to Thiruvananthapuram to develop the scientific temper and curiosity in young minds. fiinews.com
