The Euro India Research Centre (EIRC)* with its partners recently concluded its second round of EU India collaborative workshops in the ICT sector, in the cities of New Delhi on the January 29th and 30th and Bangalore on January 31st and February 1st 2008. The workshops commenced with the General session where experts from both EU and India made presentations on the Seventh Framework Programme, rules and regulations for participation, the currently open ICT call 3 and its opportunities for Indian organizations , partner search and the specific services offered by EIRC in this direction .

The cluster session, that then followed focused on the specific ICT areas of Digital Libraries and Content, Cognitive Systems, Interaction and Robotics, FET and NMP. There were also specific panel sessions on ‘NEM’ in New Delhi and ‘IPv6’ in Bangalore in which many eminent resource persons from EC and India were involved to discuss the future Euro-India collaboration. The workshops brought together nearly 150 delegates from large corporations, small and medium enterprises (SME’S) and the academic community.

Information Society

The information society is synonymous with what is meant by "new information and communication technologies" (ICT). Since the beginning of the 90s, the new ICT have been booming. The universal use of electronic exchanges of information, convergence towards digital technologies, the exponential growth of the Internet and the opening up of telecommunications markets are all signs of this change.

Lisbon Strategy

To compete with other major world players, the EU needs a modern efficient economy. Meeting in Lisbon in March 2000, the EU's political leaders set it a new goal: to become, within a decade, "the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world, capable of sustainable growth with more and better jobs and greater social cohesion.”

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS (IPR)

For EC co-financed projects, Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) normally belong to the project participants. For projects or actions where the EC bears the full cost the property is generally the property of the Community

European Technology Platforms (ETPs)

ETPs are pan-European technology initiatives to assemble European companies, research institutions, financial bodies and regulatory authorities to define a common research agenda and mobilise a critical mass of public and private resources. Technology platforms aim to define a common medium to long-term agenda for strategic areas of research; facilitating public-private partnerships for their implementation.

Industry estimates portray a positive road ahead in Indian R&D. A recent study by Batelle, the world’s largest independent R&D organization concludes that the next ten years will witness the global research and development activity being split between US, EU, and Asia--dominated by China and India--in terms of efforts, funds and activity.
Indian R&D spending has been consistently increasing over the years. According to Batelle, the world's largest independent research and development organization, total R&D expenditure has increased from (in ppp terms) US$ 36.11 billion in 2005 to US$ 38.85 billion in 2006 and US$ 41.81 billion in 2007.