Singapore: In an effort to stimulate new collaborations, India and Germany will soon begin a joint research in the fields of health research and biomedical sciences, under the Indo-German Cooperation.

Both the nations will be cooperating in the priority areas in health research and biomedical sciences like regenerative medicine, neurology and mother and child health.

The programme will focus on the preparation of joint projects under national funding programmes and will facilitate bilateral cooperation between the scientific communities of India and Germany by way of joint research projects, bilateral workshops/seminars, exchange visits of scientists, scientific delegations and composite (scientific and industrial) delegations. Both sides will explore the possibility of funding from European Union research programmes.

Evaluation and selection criteria of the programme will be based on relevance to German and Indian national programmes and multinational programmes, preparation of new projects in applied fields of mutual benefit and justification for collaboration, quality and originality of research approach, qualification of applicant and availability of infrastructure, expected results and outcomes and the proposals should include young scientists.

The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) under the Department of Health Research (DHR) of the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Government of India, and the Project Management Agency at the German Aerospace Centre (PT-DLR, European and International Cooperation), Bonn are the nodal implementing agencies from the Indian and German side respectively.