Max Planck Society to intensify cooperation with India

Establishment of Max Planck Partner Groups in India and support for young Indian researchers in Germany agreed upon

October 06, 2004

On the occasion of the visit to India by German Federal Chancellor Gerhard Schröder on October 6, 2004, Prof. Prof. V. S. Ramamurthy, State Secretary at the Indian Department of Science and Technology, and Prof. Peter Gruss, President of the Max Planck Society, signed a "Memorandum of Understanding" in New Delhi on future scientific cooperation between the two countries. The agreement, which was finalized in the presence of the Indian Minister for Science and Technology, M. Kapil Sibal, and the Federal German Minister of Education and Research, Edelgard Bulmahn, provides for a variety of instruments for intensifying cooperative research between the Max Planck Society and research institutes in India.

In the course of this year and within the cooperative framework with India, four Max Planck Institute Partner Groups from Max Planck Institutes are already being established at Indian research facilities. These Partner Groups will be headed by former guest scientists who have returned to their home institutions and are continuing their research activities in close reciprocity with their former hosts. In addition, funding will be provided for six Indian postdoctoral junior scientists for residency at Max Planck Institutes in Germany. The number of these so-called Max Planck Fellows is to be increased to 60 young scientists from India per year by 2007.

As part of the internationalizing strategy of the Max Planck Society, relations with India, which has an excellent research infrastructure and outstanding scientists, plays a central role: with 319 scientists, India represents the third largest contingent of all foreign guest scientists at Max Planck Institutes.

Most foreign doctoral candidates at the International Max Planck Research Schools come from India. The Max Planck Institutes are implementing a growing number of cooperative projects with cutting-edge research facilities in India. This is why the Max Planck Society as an institution is putting new impulses into its cooperation with India through targeted strategic measures.

On December 17, 2004 the Max Planck Society will be staging an event in Delhi to present and document its stronger commitment in India.

Go to Editor View