A two-day technology summit between India and Italy began here today with the Science and Technology Minister Harsh Vardhan calling for promotion of high quality and high impact collaborative research projects across the value chain, with a focus on boosting technological entrepreneurship.

Inaugurating the conference organised by Department of Science and Technology (DST) and the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in collaboration with the Italian government, he recalled that scientists from the two countries have benefited from joint initiatives like beamlines and synchrotron and said that it would be pertinent to focus on new areas of collaborations looking at market needs and societal challenges also.

“We must look at developing competitive products together. India and Italy are already part of great innovative collaborations such as the Mission Innovation to accelerate global innovation in clean energy. We need to promote that”, he added. The follow up action on the current summit, he hoped, would help identify potential projects and business collaboration.

DST Secretary Ashutosh Sharma said four decades of India-Italy co-operation in science and technology had acted as pillar for industrial cooperation between with significant achievements. The future too presents potential with opportunities in areas ranging from restoration and preservation of cultural heritage to research in artificial intelligence.

Italy’s Deputy Minister in the Ministry of Economic Development, Michele Geraci, said the country looked forward for greater collaboration with India in science and technology and hoped that the summit would go a long way in achieving this.

The focus of the summit is renewable energy, clean technology, information and communication technology, healthcare, aerospace, education and preservation of cultural heritage.

“Various digital techniques, such as drones, laser scanners, Geo radars, endoscopes and sonic tests can be helpful in preservation of our cultural heritage”, said - Prof. Massimo Osanna, Director General, Archaeological Park of Pompeii, University of Naples, Italy.

Prof. Ashutosh Sharma said that "India-Italy co-operation runs through Hampi in India to Pompeii in Italy.The restoration and preservation of cultural heritage is where both the countries have great cooperation opportunity."

Twitter handle: @ndpsr

(India Science Wire)

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