India, Japan sign MoUs to cooperate in pure sciences, biotech

NEW DELHI: India and Japan today signed two separate agreements for better cooperation in the fields of pure sciences and biotechnology.

The MoUs signed separately by the Department of Biotechnology (DBT) and the Department of Science and Technology (DST) with RIKEN, a Japanese multidisciplinary research organisation, are expected to help research in the fields of biology, life sciences, material sciences and computational sciences.

Speaking at the event, Noyori Ryogi, President of RIKEN and a Nobel Laureate, said "with these MOUs, we look forward to seeing lively discussions with Indian scientists and work together."

T Madhan Mohan, Advisor in the DBT, said "there can be exchange of information in research and development and exchange of scientists. Further, students can seek doctoral and post-doctoral fellowships ."

There are further talks of extending the cooperation by setting up two laboratories by DBT and National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS) and Indian Institute of Science (IISc) and Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR) with the cooperation of RIKEN.

"A huge foundation of interaction is already there in field of cell and developmental biology with the NCBS and material sciences with the JNCASR. These MOUs will allow researchers to work in a seamless manner," said Dr K Vijay Raghvan, secretary DBT.

Taking the collaboration forward, the Ministry of Science and Technology of the both the countries have decided to have direct interactions.

"The Ministry of Science and Technology of Japan has decided that we would soon have an umbrella under which the science ministries can interact directly," said Dr T Ramasami, Secretary, DST.