India, Israel to enhance partnership in innovation, startups: Jitendra Singh

New Delhi [India], May 2 (ANI): India and Israel will enhance their partnership in areas like innovation and startups and usher in a new phase of deeper bilateral collaboration, said Union Minister of State, Science and Technology Dr Jitendra Singh on Tuesday.

The union minister made the above remarks when a high-level Israel delegation led by Dr Daniel Gold, Head of DDR&D, Israeli Ministry of Defence, called on him here, according to Ministry of Science and Technology. On the occasion, India and Israel signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Industrial Research and Development Cooperation with focus on several key technology areas, like Aerospace, Electronics Instrumentation, Civil, Infrastructure and Engineering, Ecology, Environment, Earth and Ocean Sciences and Water, Mining, Minerals, Metals & Materials, Chemicals and Petrochemicals, Energy (Conventional & Non-Conventional) and Energy Devices, Agri, Nutrition & Biotech and Healthcare, as per an official release of Ministry of Science and Technology.

The Multi-Sectoral Agreement was signed between CSIR and the Directorate of Defence Research and Development (DDR&D), Ministry of Defence of the State of Israel, in the August Presence of Union Minister for Science & Technology, Dr Jitendra Singh at the CSIR-Science Centre, New Delhi.

Welcoming the signing of the agreement, Dr Jitendra Singh said that 2023 is a very important year for the country as India is holding the G20 presidency under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. It is also the year when India and Israel are celebrating 30 years of successful diplomatic relations.

The Minister said he is optimistic that this agreement will open a new phase in the India-Israel partnership in areas like Innovation, Technology and startups. The Minister said that India-Israel is not only a bilateral partner, but plays a more prominent role to address some of the greatest challenges confronting our world, through joint investments and new initiatives in Water, Energy, Transportation, space, health and food security sectors, through the grouping of India, Israel, the United Arab Emirates, and the United States of America – “I2U2” Group, an official release from Ministry of Science and Technology read.

Dr Jitendra Singh said that the Government headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been promoting S&T developments and handholding start-up innovations in our country by providing necessary policy and budgetary support enabling action at the ground level. Science and Technology have always been an integral part of Indian culture. Indian Science has come to be regarded as one of the most powerful instruments of growth and development, especially in the emerging scenario and competitive economy, he said.

The Minister said that space, health, food, agriculture, energy, aerospace, smart cities, environment, infrastructure, materials and sustainable growth are key pillars and focused areas of our present government. Brig Gen (Ret) Dr Daniel Gold, Head of DDR&D, Israeli Ministry of Defence said that it is heartening to see that, in 2022-23, India and Israel celebrated 30 years of successful diplomatic relations. India and Israel are very good friends and have lots of potentials to collaborate in high technology areas, he said.

The Minister was happy to note that India and Israel have bilateral consultation mechanisms in all cooperation fields, including water, agriculture, counter-terrorism, and defence. He said that Defence has particularly been the cooperation priority with Israel and in November 2021, Defence R&D Organization (DRDO) and DDR&D inked a Bilateral Innovation Agreement (BIA) to promote innovation and accelerated R&D in startups and MSMEs of both countries for the development of dual-use technologies, as per the official release.

Dr Jitendra Singh said that it is essential to strengthen bilateral ties, particularly for technology development and implementation. CSIR with its strong focus on Industrial research and development, could work with its Israeli peers for improving each other’s domestic industrial sector and also taking their joint developments to other countries.

The Minister expressed happiness in knowing that the joint activities have already begun in Healthcare, and a way ahead has been made for other important areas like aerospace, quantum technologies, lasers, green hydrogen, instrumentation and water. Dr Jitendra Singh concluded by congratulating DG, CSIR and Head DDR&D for their efforts to strengthen the relationship, as per the official release.