Hyderabad, Jul 29 (IANS): The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has signed a Record of Discussions with the Indian government for a technical cooperation project at the Indian Institute of Technology, Hyderabad (IITH).
The purpose of the project, 'Future Researchers at IITH to Enhance Network Development with Scholarship of Japan' (FRIENDSHIP) Phase 2 is to establish a sustainable platform for academic and industrial collaboration between India and Japan at the IITH.
To achieve this, JICA experts will be dispatched to the institute and several initiatives will be implemented. These include launching the Japan Desk at the IITH, student exchange programmes, supporting collaborative activities with Japanese educational and research institutes, and providing JICA research funds to enhance research and technology development and industrial collaboration between India and Japan, the JICA said on Thursday.
JICA's Chief Representative Katsuo Matsumoto said the relationship between the JICA and the IITH is steeped in legacy and has strengthened with time.
"Initially, in 2007, it was based on the commitment between the Prime Ministers of the two countries. Since then, we have been cooperating with the IITH through various projects such as ODA loan for campus development, several technical cooperation projects, joint research projects and public-private partnership projects," he said.
The FRIENDSHIP project is one of the core activities between the JICA and the IITH, which supports personal and organisational interaction at various levels of faculty members, industry experts and students in the field of science and technology by providing opportunity and facilitation.
"I believe these activities are contributing towards enhancing academic and industrial relationship of two countries and in achieving quality growth of India in developing innovative technologies and conducting cutting edge research at the frontiers of science and technology," he said.
The previous phase of the technical cooperation project was implemented to enhance the research network between the IITH and first-rate higher education institutions/industrial clusters of Japan through the interaction of human resource in educational and research activities between the IITH and Japan.
Through the project, several quantitative achievements were observed such as 116 grantees were provided scholarships, 271 faculty members were exchanged between Japan and the IITH, 32 MOU were signed between the IITH and Japanese academic institutions, and 15 MOUs signed between the IITH and Japanese industries.