India, US to identify new areas for scientific cooperation

WASHINGTON: Identifying new areas of cooperation in the field of science and technology will be high on the agenda in the upcoming second science and technology ministerial meeting between India and the United States next week.

Representatives from more than 15 US Government agencies and research institutions would meet with their Indian counterparts to assess progress and identify new areas for scientific cooperation.

The meeting would be jointly chaired by Assistant to the US President for Science and Technology and Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy John P Holdren and India's minister for Science, Technology and Earth Sciences.

Apart from discussions on bilateral cooperation, an announcement regarding formation of an innovative Open Government Platform will also be made by Indian Prime Minister's Advisor for Public Information Infrastructure and Innovation Sam Pitroda in the meeting.

The platform is a bilateral effort to promote transparency and greater citizen engagement by making government data, documents, tools and processes publicly available, the State Department said ahead of the meeting.

Making this information available on an open-source platform in machine-readable format will allow developers, analysts, the media, and academics an opportunity to develop new applications and insights, which will ultimately give citizens more information to facilitate better decisions.

The meeting will also discuss subjects like Basic and Applied Sciences Health and Medical Sciences and Atmospheric, Environment and Earth Sciences.

Issues like policy initiatives to strengthen bilateral research cooperation, innovation and technology commercialisation, Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) education and best practices for retaining and advancing women in science will also be taken up during the event.