India and Finland Jointly to Create Virtual Network Centre on Quantum Computing

The formal announcement for establishment of the Centre is likely to be made during the visit of Finnish Economic Affairs Minister Mika Lintila to India next month, a release from the Science and Technology Ministry said.

"India has already identified three premier institutes viz. IIT Madras, IISER Pune and C-DAC Pune for working with Finnish counterpart institutions for the Virtual Network Centre," Union Science and Technology Minister Jitendra Singh said on Wednesday.

A Finnish delegation led by Ambassador Ritva Koukku-Ronde had called on Singh and reviewed the progress of bilateral cooperation in areas such as 5G, Artificial Intelligence and Sustainability by involving, academia, industries, and Start Ups of the two countries.

The Minister also called for joint collaboration in DST initiated mission mode programmes such as electric vehicles, cyber physical system, future manufacturing, green hydrogen fuel etc. to address the societal challenges.

Singh said that the bilateral STI collaboration between the two countries is an attempt to stimulate innovative R&D projects that address a specific need or challenge, demonstrate high industrial relevance and commercial potential, and aim to deliver benefit to both the nations.

Within the framework of S&T agreement, India's Departments of Science and Technology, and Biotechnology, and Finland's Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment, together with Business Finland and Academy of Finland, have been successfully collaborating for over a decade.

Koukku-Ronde assured Singh that Finnish companies will partner with India for carbon-neutral technologies and innovations. She also underlined that both sides should enhance cooperation for sustainability in climate change.

She also invited India to explore the possibility of deeper cooperation in Finland's Biobank project to mediate high quality human samples to medical research to promote development of new products and services that promote public health. Finland reiterated its commitment for enhanced cooperation in the areas like renewable and bioenergy, sustainability, edu-tech, pharma and digitisation, the release added.