[Title] India-Japan Science& Technology and Academic Cooperation

Enabling Framework

India-Japan Science & Technology (S&T) cooperation was formalized through an Inter-Governmental Agreement signed in 1985. Bilateral S&T cooperation was further promoted in 1993 with the establishment of the India-Japan Science Council (IJSC), which has till date organized 19 meetings, supported 250 joint projects, 1600 exchange visits of scientists, 65 joint seminars/workshops and 9 Asian Academic seminars and 10 Raman-Mizushima lectures.

In 2006, DST initiated a value based partnership on the principles of 'reciprocity and co- funding with the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) and Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST) through Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT). Since then several Institutional Agreements/ MoUs in the areas of Life Sciences, Material Sciences, High Energy physics, ICT, Biotechnology, Healthcare, Heavy Ion Radiotherapy, Methane Hydrate, Robotics, Alternative Sources of Energy, Marine and Earth Sciences and Technology, Peaceful uses of Outer Space have been signed between the Science Agencies of both countries.

Recent Initiatives

- India-Japan Joint Laboratories in the area of ICT (“Internet of Things, Artificial Intelligence and Big Data Analytics”) "Architecting Intelligent Dependable Cyber Physical System Targeting IoT and Mobile Big Data Analysis" between The University of Tokyo and IIT Bombay; "Data Science-based Farming Support System for Sustainable Crop Production under Climatic Change" between The University of Tokyo and IIT Hyderabad; and "Security in the Internet of Things Space" between Kyushu University and IIT Delhi.

- Initiation of DST-JSPS Fellowship Programme for young researchers.

- MoU for second phase of Indian Beam Line at KEK Tsukuba for advanced materials research.

- Under Science and Technology Research Partnership for Sustainable Development (SATREPS) Program, a project “Smart Cities Development for Emerging Countries by Multimodal Transport System Based on Sensing, Network and Big Data Analysis of Regional Transportation” was launched in 2017.

- Under the "Japan-Asia Youth Exchange Program in Science" (Sakura Science Plan), 655 students and supervisors visited Japan from April 2017 through March 2018. 39 students selected by DST who are INSPIRE scholarship awardees, also visited Japan under this Program in May 2018.

- Setting up the DBT-AIST Advanced International Laboratory for Advanced Biomedicine (DAILAB) at Tsukuba, Japan and Six SISTERs (Satellite International Institutes for Special Training Education and Research) for drug development and therapeutic diseases in India.

- Ministry of Earth Sciences, Govt. of India (MoES) and Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC) signed an MoC for collaboration in broad areas under Ocean and Earth Science and Technology in November 2016.

- A Joint Research Contract between DBT and AIST to establish a “DBT-AIST International CENter for Translational & Environmental Research (DAICENTER)” was during the Summit in India in September 2017.

- The MoC between the National Institutes for Quantum and Radiological Science and Technology (QST) and Tata Medical Center, Kolkata in the field of heavy ion radiotherapy was signed in September 2017.

- Based on the MoU concerning cooperation in the field of space signed between Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) in November 2016, ISRO and JAXA held the second Joint Working Group in September 2018 to discuss cooperation areas.

- ISRO and JAXA signed the Implementation Arrangement (IA) concerning Pre-Phase A Study and Phase A Study of Joint Lunar Polar Exploration Mission in December 2017, and ISRO and JAXA have successfully completed the feasibility study report in March 2018.

- ISRO and JAXA signed the Implementation Arrangement (IA) concerning cooperation on validations, improvement, and applications of rainfall products using satellite images and ground measurements in June 2018.

- Department of Space (DOS) of India, ISRO, Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) of Japan and JAXA co-hosted the 24th Session of the Asia-Pacific Regional Space Agency Forum (APRSAF-24) in Bengaluru in November 2017 where the Joint Statement was adopted.

Research & Academic partnerships

- Memorandum for an Internship Program between OMRON Corporation, the Graduate School of Information Science and Engineering of Ritsumeikan University, and the Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad was signed in November, 2017.

- Hiroshima University signed agreements, memorandums and annexure with eight india institutes as follows:

(i) Annexure to Memorandum of Understanding between the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research through the CSIR-Central Electronics Engineering Research Institute (CSIR-CEERI), Pilani, India and Hiroshima University, Japan Concerning International Collaboration on Research, Academic and Educational Exchange (December 2017).

(ii) Agreement on Academic and Educational Exchange and Memorandum to Academic and Educational Exchange Agreement between Hiroshima University, Japan and Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani, India (BITS-P)(December 2017).

(iii) Agreement on Academic and Educational Exchange and Memorandum to Academic and Educational Exchange Agreement between Hiroshima University, Japan and Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, India (IIT BOMBAY)(January 2018)

(iv) Memorandum to Academic and Educational Exchange Agreement between Hiroshima University, Japan and Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology, Shibpur, India (January, 2018).

(v) Memorandum on Student Exchange between Hiroshima University, Japan and CSIR-Central Mechanical Engineering Research Institute (CSIR-CMERI) (January 2018).

(vi) Memorandum of Agreement for Student Exchange between Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIMA) and Hiroshima University, Japan (April 2018).

(vii) Memorandum of Agreement on Academic and Educational Exchange between Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, India and Hiroshima University Japan (May 2018).

(viii) Memorandum of Understanding on Academic and Educational Exchange between Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad, India and Hiroshima University, Japan (October, 2018.)

- Department of Mechanical Engineering, Department of Nuclear System Safety Engineering, Nagaoka University of Technology signed two Agreements of Academic and Research Collaboration respectively with Department of Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Tirupati (January 2018) and School of Engineering Discipline of Metallurgy Engineering and Material Science, Indian Institute of Technology Indore (July 2018)

- Nagasaki University signed three Letters of Intent (LoIs) with All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Indian Institute of Science (IISc), and Indian Institute of Technology Delhi (IIT Delhi) respectively for education and academic research cooperation in July 2018.

- Memorandum of Understanding Between Shizuoka University, Japan and National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER), S. A. S. Nagar was signed in October 2018.

- Hokkaido University signed four Academic Exchange Agreements and Memorandums of Understanding on Student Exchange respectively with Indian Institute of Technology Bombay(January 2018), Indian Institute of Technology Madras (March 2018), Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad (April 2018), and Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur (October 2018).

- MoU between CSIR, India and Research Centre for Advanced Science and Technology (RCAST), University of Tokyo for R&D cooperation in areas such as Mechatronics including Robotics, Surface Engineering, Energy Storage (especially solar to chemical), and Optoelectronics was signed in October 2018.

- MoU between Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR), India and Hiroshima University for research partnerships was signed in October 2018.

- Memorandum of Understanding on Further Cooperation toward Indo-Japan Global Startup between Nagasaki University and IIITDM was signed in October 2018.

- Agreement for Cooperation between Institute of Innovative Research, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan and Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR), India was signed in October, 2018.

- MoC between the National Institute of Polar Research (NIPR) of Japan and the National Centre for Polar and Ocean Research of India on Polar Research (NCPOR) was signed in October 2018.

Future Initiatives

Both sides propose to establish Joint research in areas like climate prediction, ocean prediction and few others. Regarding the India-Japan Joint Research Laboratory Programme in the field of ICT between JST and DST, both sides are considering some activities to further continue the collaboration. Regarding the joint lunar polar exploration mission between ISRO and JAXA, both sides will continue the joint study to start the development immediately with the target of launching the mission in early 2020s.