'An emerging partner'

Interview with Janez Potocnik, Commissioner for Science and Research, European Commission.

Janez Potocnik sees great potential for cooperation between the European Union and India in the field of science and technology. Excerpts from an interview:

What is the mechanism that you envisage to realise the various collaborative research programmes between India and the European Union that were agreed upon during the India-E.U. Ministerial Science Conference?

Basically we have begun to discuss the modalities. We have already started today [February 8] a workshop on climate change. It is one of the tools that we think could somehow give shape to the priorities that we have identified. In one month Director-General for Research of the European Commission [Jos Manuel] Silva [Rodrguez] will be visiting India. After the visit, which is purely to send a political message, there should be a visit to operationalise the cooperation agreement. He is also the director for international cooperation in research and technology at the Commission.

You also heard Minister Sibal saying that he would like to have the first joint call for collaborative research between Indian and European scientists before the next India-E.U. summit in November. Though we do not have lot of time, there is already an established process of cooperation.

Is this joint call for projects under the Seventh Framework Programme [FP7] or for all joint projects envisaged under the new broader agreement?

The details [for the joint call] are still to be agreed. The normal mode of participation, where an Indian researcher identifies a European partner for a project or vice-versa, like the 80 projects of FP6, is still open. But, as regards the new joint call initiative, my understanding is that each side will put in an equal amount of money; the Indian side would call for proposals from Indian entities, including scientists, organisations, industry and NGOs , and the E.U. would similarly call for proposals from European entities but for the same issue or subject in which there is a commonality of interest and joint work can be undertaken. That is, we identify in advance the area and then go together on it. The E.U. contribution will come from FP7 funding which will be supplemented by Indian contribution. So it is a somewhat different structure under the new [joint call] initiative.

Besides programmes under FP7 what other areas have been identified for collaborative research?

FP7 is a very broad and unique programme. It covers practically all the areas and all the possibilities that take place across the board under the Commission. Obviously, inside that there is room for manoeuvre to take care of all areas envisaged, say ICT, nanotechnology, biotechnology, energy, environment and so on. All these can be part of FP7. Whatever we identify, if we see that it is something worth addressing together and if there is potential for value addition through collaboration, we will do it. So the FP, with a funding of 54 billion euros (Rs.310 trillion) for a seven-year period, is a major programme of the E.U.

Would it also include design and manufacture of next generation aircraft?

That is, in fact, part of the Framework Programme. We have what is called the Green Sky joint technology initiative, a public-private partnership programme, which includes transport and aviation as major components, and we are funding a lot of new technology projects related to the aviation and aircraft industry.

Under FP7 there is a component (5 per cent) of projects under Euratom, the European nuclear consortium. If India proposes a project under Euratom for collaboration, would there be any restriction on access to technologies owing to nuclear or dual use export controls?

In Euratom projects, there are two major parts: one related to nuclear fusion and the other to [nuclear] fission. When it concerns fusion there is no difference in opinion inside E.U. that this should be done together under Euratom. And this is where majority of the money goes. ITER, in which India is a 100 per cent partner, is a project under Euratom. As regards the rest, which we spend on fission, even in Europe we have more problems as to what can be done at E.U. level. And the work we are doing together at the research level is predominantly for security, waste disposal and very few projects relate to generation of nuclear power and/or the development of future generation reactor systems.

Do you have similar joint call initiatives with other countries?

We have a joint call programme with the United States and Canada in a research project in genomics, where money comes from three different sources for three different sets of researchers but working on a common theme. We have a similar initiative with China and we are thinking of developing in future with Russia.

How is this Indo-E.U. science summit and the cooperation arrangement unique and different from the earlier arrangements with others?

Actually the initiative came from the German presidency. They asked us at the Commission if the member states would be willing to participate in such a meeting and we gladly agreed and have been actively involved. It is the first time that the science ministers or the higher representatives of the 27 member states have met outside Europe. This was not the case earlier. What was the intention? On the one hand, to clearly show and recognise the importance of cooperation with India and, on the other, to recognise that you are doing a great job in the development of your potential, which is evident from the scientific base that exists.

We simply want to recognise that India is an important emerging partner for Europe and the potential for our cooperation is enormous. The mechanism [for cooperation] may not be different but it was a specific case and the ministers meeting outside made it even more visible.