The Hindu : Kerala / Thiruvananthapuram News : Sharjah S&T centre in Kochi soon

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Nov 21, 2009
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

Kerala

Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram

Sharjah S&T centre in Kochi soon

Special Correspondent

Research collaboration with universities in State proposed

— Photo: By Special Arrangement

Boosting business: Sharjah Chamber of Commerce and Industry Chairman Ahmed Mohammed Al Midfa, and Siddhartha Bhattacharya, CEO, Infopark, Kochi, exchange documents after signing a Memorandum of Understanding in Sharjah on Friday for the establishment of a science and technology innovation centre on the Infopark campus in Kochi.

Thiruvananthapuram: The Infopark campus in Kochi is set to become the hub of a transnational collaborative project between the emirate of Sharjah and universities in Kerala.

The Sharjah Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) and Infopark Kochi, a government of Kerala enterprise, signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Friday to set up a Science and Technology Innovation Centre on the Infopark campus.

Ahmed Mohammed Al Midfa, Chairman, SCCI, and Siddhartha Bhattacharya, CEO, Infopark, signed the MoU at the ‘India & Sharjah – Partners in Progress’ event held on the premises of the Chamber in Sharjah.

Sheikha Lubna bint Khalid Al Qasimi, Minister for Foreign Trade, UAE; Venu Rajamony, Consul General of India, Dubai, and Dr. Ajay Kumar, Principal Secretary, Information Technology, government of Kerala, were present on the occasion.

The Sharjah Science and Technology Innovation Centre is envisaged as a platform to provide Sharjah-based business houses access to talent and knowledge-based resources in Kerala.

A pressnote quoting Mr. Al Midfa said the initiative would help to promote the interests of local businesses. “Our main objective is to help small and medium enterprises in Sharjah conduct research and development for the development of innovative products and services in a cost-effective manner. India has been a major trading partner of the UAE and is an ideal choice for a venture of this sort. The State of Kerala boasts some of the leading research institutes of India working in diverse fields like space technology, biotechnology and engineering sciences. The new initiative will facilitate the joint production of value-added solutions.”

Expectations

The Centre is expected to become operational by the first quarter of 2010.

Dr. Ajay Kumar said the innovation centre would facilitate direct collaboration in research activities between businesses in Sharjah and universities in Kerala. The MoU also involved a partnership mechanism to commercialise the benefits of the research, he said.

Mr. Bhattacharya said the initiative would enable Sharjah-based firms to use Kerala as a technology corridor for products and services. “The presence of the Sharjah Science and Technology Innovation Centre will help showcase our capabilities and produce business development opportunities, besides establishing new alliances between organisations on either side,” he said.

According to Hussain Al Mahmoudi, Director General, SCCI, the Science and Technology Innovation Centre would lead to possible joint product development between Sharjah and Kerala-based companies. “It will act as a business hub for local tie-ups, facilitating access to both UAE and India markets. The new facility will help evolve services and new technological applications in emerging sectors like education, healthcare, automation, manufacturing and transportation and logistics. Institutions such as the Sharjah Institute of Technology can benefit by engaging in university exchange programmes with research institutes in Kerala.”

Mr. Mahmoudi said Kerala was selected for the initiative because of lower operational costs and the presence of a large talent pool involved in research and development across different fields of science and technology.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Kerala