Collaboration between India and Japan in the area of biotechnology research is all set to get to get a major boost with the signing of a memorandum of understanding between India’s Department of Biotechnology (DBT) with Japan’s National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) here on Wednesday.
The pact signed on the eve of a two-day State visit of Japanese Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, to India, envisages the expansion of the an international laboratory set up by DBT and AIST under the name of DAILAB into a major collaborative research centre in the area of biotechnology.
The new centre to be called DAICENTER will seek to enhance the level of joint research, training and networking programmes that had been underway through DAILAB and its six ancillary institutes called Satellite International Institutes for Special Training, Education and Research (SISTERS) for the past three years.
" The new centre would focus on connecting the academia to the industry and network innovation to entrepreneurship promoting science and technology relationships of the two countries."
The new centre would focus on connecting the academia to the industry and network innovation to entrepreneurship promoting science and technology relationships of the two countries.
This is the third stage of collaboration between DBT and AIST. The tie up between the two institutions began in 2007 when the first MOU for a term of five years was signed under the Joint Statement towards India-Japan Strategic and Global Partnership of the then Prime Ministers of the two countries. Several bilateral research projects were successfully conducted in the field of bioinformatics and biomedicine. The projects mainly related to development of drugs and pharmaceuticals for cancer and other diseases.
The second term from 2012-17 took the tie to a new level including the setting up of DIALAB and its six SISTERs. Now, the third term from 2017-22 seeks to expand the DIALAB to a DIACENTER as a major research centre.
Speaking at a function to mark the new MOU for the third term, DBT Secretary, K.Vijayaraghavan, expressed the hope that the expansion of the joint laboratory into a research centre would help in pooling the resources of the two countries towards meeting the growing needs of society worldwide "India and Japan have lots to share in science on complementary basis and merge experiences to education for the next generations". (India Science Wire)
