The EU has bilateral agreements with 20 individual countries around the world, based on common interests and priorities, aiming to increase cooperation in research and innovation. One such partnership is with India, where cooperation on research and innovation is governed by the Agreement for Scientific and Technological Cooperation signed in 2001. This agreement was renewed for the third time on 17 May 2020, extending the collaboration for a further 5 years.
Implementing the agreement is overseen by a Joint Steering Committee co-chaired by the Director General of DG Research and Innovation, European Commission and the Secretary of the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India.
In line with the EU Strategy on international cooperation on research and innovation called Europe’s Global Approach, the EU is open to more cooperation with India, a like-minded country respecting fundamental values such as academic freedom, gender equality, research integrity and ethics, open science and the rule of law.
EU-India partnership roadmap
At the EU-India Summit on 15 July 2020, the EU-India Strategic Partnership: A Roadmap to 2025 was adopted. The roadmap guides the EU and India on joint actions and further strengthening the EU-India Strategic Partnership over the next 5 years.
The roadmap contains many research and innovation actions underpinning overall policy objectives, notably on combatting Covid-19, supporting India’s modernisation process, the green transition and human-centric digitalisation. In addition, the roadmap mentions the importance of engaging with India on social sciences and humanities, the desire to increase two-way mobility of students and researchers and to consider gender equality in science.
Both sides also agreed to enhance cooperation on innovation and technology deployment by tapping into each other’s innovation ecosystem, as established under the Europe-India Innovation Partnership (EIIP). For this, the EU supports the Horizon 2020 project EU-India InnoCentre.
Areas of mutual interest
At the Science and Technology Joint Steering Committee meeting on 12 February 2021, the following areas and research topics of interest to India were mentioned:
- health (early treatment of cancers, mental health)
- circular economy (waste-to-energy, plastic litter)
- electrical vehicles
- ICT (cyber-physical-systems, artificial intelligence and robotics)
- agriculture (post-harvest technologies, agri-food, vaccines against major livestock diseases)
- earth sciences
During the EU-India Leaders’ Meeting on 8 May 2021, both sides committed to step-up cooperation on research and innovation in areas of mutual interest, in particular on the green transition, digital agenda and global health challenges
The EU-India Connectivity Partnership adopted on 8 May 2021, encourages both India and the EU to increase the two-way mobility of students and researchers under the People-to-People building block of the Connectivity Strategy with India.
The EU strategy on Cooperation with the Indo-Pacific Region confirms the principle of engaging with India on research and innovation as set out in the Global Approach.
The first Ministerial meeting of the Trade and Technology Council (TTC) with India took place in Brussels on 16 May 2023. The EU and India agreed to deepen cooperation among 2 strong economic and trusted partners on the trade nexus technology issues.
Trade and Technology Council with India
The TTC that was established on 6 February 2023 relies on the work of 3 working groups:
1. Strategic technologies, digital governance and digital connectivity
2. Green and clean energy technologies
3. Trade, investment and resilient value chains
In line with the Terms of Reference of the Working Group 2 on Green and Clean energy technologies, with a focus on research and innovation, investment and standards, it was agreed to start work on the following 3 areas:
(1) Tackling waste management of water, plastic marine litter and waste to energy, in particular to green hydrogen
(2) E-mobility and battery performance and recycling
(3) Standards, as a cross-cutting issue to valorise the results of investment in research and innovation
The importance to involve start-ups and SMEs was also highlighted as well as skill development and capacity building.
All work will start with workshops to share knowledge and best practices and do gap analyses so as to establish activities of mutual interest for further cooperation.
Find out more: Press release – Joint statement – Factsheet
Funding opportunities
Horizon Europe is the biggest EU research and innovation programme ever with more than €90 billion of funding available over 7 years (2021 to 2027). It is open to the world, which means that participants from all over the world can participate in most calls.
International cooperation in Horizon Europe
Agreements and arrangements
- EU-India Agreement on scientific and technological cooperation concluded in 2001, renewed in 2010, 2016 and 2020
- Cooperation agreement between the European Atomic Energy Community and the Government of India in the field of fusion energy research signed in 2010.
- Implementing Arrangement between the European Commission and the Indian Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB) enabling Indian researchers from STEM field to be hosted by ERC grantees in Europe – signed in 2017
- Implementing Arrangement between the European Commission and the Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR) enabling Indian researchers from Social Sciences and Humanities field to be hosted by ERC grantees in Europe – signed in October 2020
- European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom) and the Government of India Agreement for research and development cooperation in the peaceful uses of nuclear energy - signed in July 2020
- India is a member of the ITER project
Project and results
Research project database
EU-funded research projects involving India
Project success stories
Stories of particularly successful EU-funded research projects involving India.
Contact
National Contact Points
The National Contact Points (NCPs) provide guidance, practical information and assistance on all aspects of participation in Horizon Europe.
India has, however, not appointed NCPs.
Research enquiry service
You can contact the research enquiry service to find out more about research in Europe, the EU's research and innovation funding programmes as well as calls for proposals and project funding.