The United Kingdom government has recently announced its decision to launch a £4million “Innovation Challenge Fund” in India. The fund is focused on two major clusters, which include artificial intelligence and big data in Karnataka and future mobility in Maharashtra. The successful bidders are likely to have an international part from the UK.
Launched on 27 January at a Pune event, the UK India will encourage industry and academia to collaborate and develop tech solutions to tackle social, economic and environmental challenges in India.
The initiative is a part of the UK-India Tech Partnership announced in April 2018. The partnership aims to bring together the best minds working in the countries to deliver high-skilled jobs and economic growth. The partnership was agreed by the Indian Prime Minister and his UK counterpart with a vision of unleashing the potential of emerging technologies.
The fund primarily supports collaborative research into emerging technologies where applicants will be required to explain how their proposals will facilitate the development of partnerships between researchers, start-ups, scale-ups and small & medium enterprises.
Karen McLuskie, Head of the UK-India tech partnership said, “At this event, we make good on the instructions of the Indian and UK Prime Ministers to ‘bring together some of the best minds on tech’ to address the global challenges that affect us all, and realize the potential of innovation to drive growth for the benefit of everyone.”
In a statement given to media, Jan Thompson, British Deputy High Commissioner to India said, “The UK technology sector is a huge success story and its products have an incredible power to improve people’s lives. I am delighted to announce the launch of this important fund which shows the UK and India working together as a force for good to address the key challenges facing India today.”
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