A research team headed by UC President Robert C. Dynes arrived in India last week to begin collaborating with the nation’s leaders to establish stronger connections in academic fields via a new program called the UC-India Initiative.
Dynes organized the UC delegation, composed of top-notch leaders from various fields. The consortium of officials from multiple institutes within the University of California is “”a happy mixture”” of both volunteers and those who were chosen by Dynes, said Associate Executive Director of the California Institute for Quantitative Biomedical Research Douglas Crawford.
Like QB3, various organizations are uniting for this massive international collaboration, including the Center of Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society, Global Health Services, California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology and many other UC-facilitated research teams.
Dynes’ team will be in India for a week, advocating multiple business and government partnerships with Indian President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam and various leaders of technological, educational and health organizations such as the Department of Science and Technology, the Indo-U.S. Science and Technology Forum, the Science and Engineering Research Council and others. Dynes will search for further expansions of the UC-India collaboration by establishing more industrial, academic and governmental partnerships.
“”Most of the challenges facing our world today are not confined within the borders of any one state or country,”” Dynes stated in a press release. “”Solving the big challenges affecting our world — and sustaining a position of leadership in the global economy — requires reaching beyond geographic borders to form partnerships with the brightest minds in every field, wherever they are.””
According to Dynes, the ultimate goal of the initiative is to focus research collaborations more strategically on a defined set of problems involving more students. Also, he said that he hopes that California and India will assist each other in targeting joint research to deliver results to communities in both countries.
Among the research topics for the UC-India Initiative is the marketing of new treatments for tuberculosis and AIDS, applying information technology infrastructure for rural development and discovering nanotechnologies to aid in energy development.
“”That is just the beginning — the trip itself is designed to spur further thinking on the part of both UC and Indian partners on the best areas to focus our joint research,”” UC Office of the President spokesman Brad Hayward said.
According to Crawford, the initiative is important because it helps both countries reach their own respective goals.
“”We have a lot of interests in establishing mutually beneficial partnerships that will not just pursue our ambitions but also the ambitions of the partner country,”” Crawford said. “”The important issue for us is to have the capacity to do what really no one else has effectively done before. How can we find new drugs where there is no profit motive? Academic researchers in partnership with countries that have crushing health problems can work together to fix that problem.””
Hayward also said that the university was interested in the benefits that would come from India’s booming economy.
“”India is clearly becoming a major player on the world economic stage,”” Hayward said.
Developing international relations in pursuance of ambitious innovations and research technologies are interconnecting the University of California with countries across the globe.
Dynes and UC research organizations have also established partnerships with many other countries outside of India, such as China, Finland, Canada and Mexico.
