| 1. The Department of
Science and Technology of the Government of India
and the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs are the
nodal agencies coordinating the activities of the
Indo-French Centre for Promotion of Advanced Research,
jointly established as a major initiative by the Government
of India and the Government of France to promote collaborative
research by scientists of the two countries in emerging
advanced areas of mutual interest in Science and Technology.
The Centre has a budget provision of Rs.6.00 crores
annually from the Indian side. The Centre has started
functioning in 1987 and has entered the 15th year
of its activities.
2. Areas Identified for Indo-French Collaboration
under IFCPAR
- Pure and Applied Mathematics
- Computer and Information Sciences
- Life and Health Sciences
- Pure and Applied Physics
- Pure and Applied Chemistry
- Instrumentation
- Geo-sciences
- Material Sciences
- Environmental Sciences
- Others – Water, Biotechnology, Technology
of Information & Communication
3. Most of the projects have yielded highly encouraging
results, some findings with potential practical applications.
While two French patents have been obtained, about
25 applications for grant of patents are being processed.
Transfer of technology has taken place under a number
of projects besides strengthening infra-structural
facilities.
4. The Centre has organized 49 Indo-French seminars,
symposia, workshops, schools, round tables etc., in
India and France. 250 projects have been recommended
by the Scientific Council. 64 Projects are ongoing
and 150 have been completed. 2 Industrial Research
Projects are ongoing and one has been completed. 1550
Exchange Visits by Indian and French Scientists for
project related activities have taken place. The projects
have resulted in 1500 research publications. Two State
of the Art reports on Opto-electronics (1991) Drug
Delivery and Slow Delivery of Drugs (1998) have been
published by IFCPAR. The Scientific Council of IFCPAR
held its 30th Meeting on 29th October to 2nd November
2002 at Bangalore and the 16th Meeting of the Governing
Body of the Centre was held at Paris on 15 & 16th
November 2002.
5. The Centre has taken up a new initiative of linking
research institutions and industries of the two countries
in joint applied and industrial research projects
in high technology areas. The first project on ‘Diamond
Like Coatings for Biomedical and other applications’
involving a French Industry, a French Laboratory and
an Indian Institution, started in September 1998.
Efforts are now underway to commercialize this technology
so that the biomedical industry could make use of
it. The areas identified for involving industries
are: Formulations, Drug delivery systems, Biotechnology,
Diagnostics, Herbals.
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