News : Max Planck Society steps up research cooperation with India

Germany & South Asia: Max Planck Society steps up research cooperation with India

Max Planck Society steps up research cooperation with India

February 03, 2010

On Wednesday, 3rd February, the Indo-German Max Planck Center for Computer Science (IMPECS) will be inaugurated jointly by German President Horst Köhler and India’s Minister of Science & Technology Prithviraj Chavan at the Indian Institute of Technology in Delhi. The new Max Planck Center will broaden the scale of Germany’s cooperation with India in the field of computer sciences.

"The goal is to create a center of excellence which not only engages in top-level research but also opens up career opportunities for young scientists in India," says Prof. Peter Gruss, President of the Max Planck Society. At the same time, the project aims to help outstanding foreign guest scientists at Max Planck Institutes to establish themselves scientifically in their home country and maintain a long-term connection with the institutes of the Max Planck Society.

The Center comprises six Indo-German research groups; four more are due to be added after a period of twelve months. In the coming five years these groups will receive around 1.1 million euros in funding from the German Federal Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF) and an additional two million euros from India’s Department of Science and Technology (DST). The Max Planck Society is contributing 0.9 million euros, bringing the total of funding to almost four million euros.

The joint scientific programme is intended to encourage the exchange of post-docs and promote shared workshops and training activities, for example in the context of the International Max Planck Research Schools (IMPRS). There are also plans to integrate scientists from other institutions as associate partners and provide mutual access to research institutes and equipment.

"India represents a special area of emphasis for the Max Planck Society and its international relations activities," explains Felix Kahle, who represents the Max Planck Society in Delhi. For example, there are an increasing number of outstanding Indian institutes working in scientific fields in which Max Planck Institutes are seeking partners on a worldwide basis. In 2008, some 557 junior and visiting scientists came from India, representing an increase of more than 80 percent over the past five years.

More than one in ten of the foreign doctoral students at Max Planck Institutes now hail from the sub-continent. Many of them are engaged in research at International Max Planck Research Schools. The 120 Indian students participating in this programme constitute the largest group from any one foreign country.

Outstanding scientists also continue to receive support after their return to their home country through the medium of Partner Groups. Currently, there are 14 of such groups in India, more than in any other country. "It is important for the Max Planck Society that we should support foreign guest scientists at our institutes in establishing themselves scientifically in their home countries in order to preserve long-term ties between them and the Max Planck Institutes. This is of benefit to both sides," explains Kurt Mehlhorn, Director at the Max Planck Institute for Informatics in Saarbrücken. Prof. Mehlhorn will head the Indo-German Max Planck Center for Computer Science together with Naveen Garg of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Delhi.

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