Lintila assures Finnish partnerships with India for Carbon-neutral technologies and Sustainability in Climate Change
India and Finland are to set up an Indo-Finnish Virtual Network Centre on Quantum Computing under a Memorandum of Understanding signed on 18 Apr 2022.
Visiting Finland Minister of Economic Affairs Mika Lintila and Minister of State Science & Technology Dr Jitendra Singh witnessed the MoU signing.
Addressing media after the MoU signing, Minister Lintila assured Dr Singh that Finnish companies will partner with India for Carbon-neutral technologies and enhance cooperation for Sustainability in Climate Change.
The Finnish Minister also invited India to explore the possibility of deeper cooperation in Finland’s Biobank project to mediate high quality human samples to medical research to promote development of new products and services that promote public health.
Elaborating, Dr Singh said that the two countries are jointly working to stimulate innovative R&D projects that address a specific need or challenge, demonstrate high industrial relevance and commercial potential.
The Indian side has identified three premier institutes viz IIT Madras, IISER Pune and C-DAC Pune for Virtual Network Centre on Quantum Computing.
He said the move comes in the wake of the decision taken in the last Joint Committee meeting held in November 2020 to initiate cooperation in new emerging areas like 5G; Quantum Computing and Sustainability by involving, Academia, Industries and Start-ups of the two countries.
Dr Singh said that the Department of Science & Technology has initiated several new mission mode programs like Electric Vehicles, Cyber Physical System, Quantum Technologies, Future Manufacturing, Green Hydrogen Fuel among others.
He noted Finland’s leading role in clean and green technologies that can help India’s drive towards sustainable development.
India and Finland have strong bonding in Science, Technology and Innovation, he added.
The Finnish Minister was briefed on the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), which has inter-disciplinary network of 37 laboratories.
These labs are keen to connect with partners from Finland for knowledge and expertise sharing in Green Transition by co-development, deployment of cutting-edge technologies, products and solutions, especially of relevance to the common man and addressing the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
Dr Singh also shared that both India and Finland are consultative members of the Antarctic Treaty and have active stations in Antarctica.
Finland would be hosting Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting (ATCM) in 2023 and India in 2024, added Dr Singh.
The Minister also underlined the cooperation between India Meteorological Department (IMD) and Finnish Meteorological Institute in the field of Atmospheric Environment since 2014.
Dr Singh listed India’s interest on developing Sustainable Energy Technologies (generation, conversion, storage and conservation), Environment and Clean Technologies, Biobased Economy, BioBanks and Bio based materials for different applications, Water and Marine Technologies, Food & Agri Technologies, Affordable Healthcare (including, Pharmaceuticals and Biomedical Instrumentation), Technologies for Advanced Manufacturing, Integration of AI and Machine Learning in all domains. fiinews.com
