ICTP Welcomes Delegation from India

Science, technology and future alliances were the topics of discussion during a visit to ICTP on 4 September by a high-level delegation from India led by Abhay Karandikar, Secretary of that country's Department of Science and Technology (DST).

ICTP has had strong connections with the Indian scientific community over the past six decades.  Almost 15,000 scientists from India, from early-career researchers to some of the leaders in the field, have visited ICTP for extended periods for collaborations. For many years, the DST generously funded ICTP's Ramanujan Prize, awarded annually to mathematicians from the global South.

"ICTP has an impressive track record in fundamental science, contributing to several breakthroughs including to five Nobel prizes, but it is no longer restricted only to theoretical physics," said ICTP Director Atish Dabholkar, alluding to ICTP's research on climate change and quantum computing. "The Centre also has strong connections with the climate community in India. Emerging areas in Machine Learning, AI, and quantum computing present exciting opportunities for areas of common interest,"  he added.

Collaboration with India in such areas would align well with two new strategic initiatives at ICTP: the International Science Alliance to build equal partnerships and the International Consortium for Scientific Computing to make the new wave of computation-intensive science globally available. The goal, said Dabholkar, is to help create strong scientific communities in the global South well versed in modern tools and climate modelling. "This is an essential precondition for meaningful participation in decision-making of those most affected," he said.

During the visit, Secretary Karandikar reaffirmed the intention of the DST to further strengthen the collaboration with ICTP and more broadly with the Trieste Science System, of which ICTP has been a foundational pillar. The DST has been a close partner with Trieste institutes the ICGEB and Elettra Synchrotron Facility, as has ICTP through its TRIL programme.

The India delegation meeting was co-organised by the Italian Embassy in New Delhi and follows an Italy-India event which Director Dabholkar attended in April this year in India on "Italy-India Science and Technology Dialogue: Fostering Innovation through Collaboration".