Jo Johnson visits India 8-10 November
The UK Science Minister announces new research programmes worth upto £80 million.
The UK Minister of State for Universities, Science, Research and Innovation, Jo Johnson announcing a number of initiatives at the India-UK TECH Summit in New Delhi.
The UK Minister of State for Universities, Science, Research and Innovation, Jo Johnson announced a number of initiatives along with Indian Minister for Science and Technology, Dr. Harsh Vardhan at the India-UK TECH Summit in New Delhi. The bilateral announcements are aimed to deepen collaboration between the UK and India in the science and technology space.
The UK is country partner at this years’ TECH Summit, which is India’s premier science and technology showcase. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the partnership between the two countries during his visit to the UK in November 2015. The TECH Summit has brought together leading star speakers, British businesses, science and technology experts to India to show best of what UK has to offer.
Speaking at the Summit, the ministers announced a number of new UK-India Newton Fund research programmes, worth up to £80 million, in areas including: water quality, anti-microbial resistance and women & children’s health. This takes the joint investment in research programmes through the Newton Fund in India to up to £200 million until 2021 (£104 million from UK match funded by Indian partners) to jointly address global societal challenges.
The UK Science Minister also launched the first annual £1 million Newton Prize, which will recognise the Newton Fund’s best science or innovation that promote the economic development and social welfare of partner countries. For 2017, the prize is open to existing Newton Fund programmes in India, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam which focus on the grand societal challenge of public health and wellbeing, covering issues such as anti-microbial resistance, disease, healthcare, and nutrition.
UK Minister of State for Universities, Science, Research and Innovation, Jo Johnson said:
The future of science and innovation depends on collaboration and India continues to be a vital science partner for the UK.
Through the Newton Fund we’re working together to improve the lives of millions across the world we are continuing to look at opportunities to expand this partnership to include funding for social science and humanities programmes.
Jo Johnson will open the first meeting of the Research Councils UK (RCUK) - Department for Biotechnology Strategic Group on Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) on 9 November, which will work towards accelerating development of new drugs and diagnostics.
Further information
AMR is a global threat to human and livestock health, however as identified in the recent O’Neill review, in low and middle income countries access to appropriate, affordable drugs and diagnostics to support prescription practice, surveillance and interventions are key barriers to tackling AMR. In addition, most of the direct (and many of the indirect) impacts of AMR will fall on these countries.
The Newton Fund, in partnership with Indian funders including Department of Science and Technology, Department of Biotechnology, Ministry of Earth Sciences, is known as the Newton-Bhabha Fund. The priority areas for Newton-Bhabha are: sustainable cities and urbanisation, public health and wellbeing, energy-food-water nexus and understanding oceans.
The Newton Fund builds scientific and innovation partnerships with 16 partner countries to support their economic development and social welfare, and to develop their research and innovation capacity for long-term sustainable growth. It has a total UK government investment of £735 million up until 2021, with matched resources from the partner countries. The Newton Fund is managed by the UK Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), and delivered through 15 UK delivery partners, which include the Research Councils, the UK Academies, the British Council, Innovate UK and the Met Office.
For more information please visit the Newton Fund website.
For media queries, please contact:
Stuart Adam, Head,
Press and Communications
British High Commission, Chanakyapuri
New Delhi 110021
Tel: 44192100; Fax: 24192411
Mail to: Anshuman Atroley
Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, Storify, Eventbrite, Blogs, Foursquare, Youtube, Instagram, Vine, Snapchat @UKinIndia, Periscope @UKinIndia