BW Communities

India, EU Inks Agreement On Climate Modelling & Quantum Technologies

BW Online Bureau Nov 22, 2022

India and the European Union (EU) signed a cooperation agreement in areas such as climate modelling and quantum technologies on Monday, building on the Trade and Technology Council established by the two sides earlier this year.

During a virtual ceremony, India's Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) and the European Commission's Directorate-General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology (DG CONNECT) signed the “Intent of Cooperation on High-Performance Computing (HPC), Weather Extremes and Climate Modelling and Quantum Technologies.”

The agreement builds on both sides' commitments to deepen technological cooperation on quantum and high-performance computing made during the India-EU leaders’ meeting on 8 May.

“Moreover, the signing of the agreement is significant in the context of the decision to establish the EU-India Trade and Technology Council (TTC)” on 25 April, according to an EU statement.

According to the statement, the agreement signed on Monday aims to facilitate collaboration on high-performance computing applications using Indian and European supercomputers in areas such as bio-molecular medicines, Covid-19 therapeutics, mitigating climate change, predicting natural disasters and quantum computing.

MeitY secretary Alkesh Kumar Sharma and Roberto Viola, director general of the Directorate General of Communication, Networks, Content and Technology signed the agreement.

According to Sharma, high-performance computing is addressing some of the world's most pressing challenges and demand for such systems is growing rapidly across multiple domains. Under this collaboration, India and the EU will pool their expertise to optimise high-performance computing to develop advanced technology solutions in various fields.

Viola said that combining India's and the EU's experience and expertise and building on long-standing cooperation and trust can “help each other overcome the greatest challenges of our age, Covid-19 and climate change.”