Incredible India

By Vladimiro Miranda – INESC TEC Associate Director, International Relations

There are several ways of being in the world, but we would like to point out two, as opposites: the parochial and the universal. INESC TEC chose to identify itself with the second, from the moment it stopped “being Porto” and expanded to Brazil – it established itself as an organisation with pursuits outside the original territory. INESC TEC takes risks and strives for benefits.

In February 2020, INESC TEC exchanged the terms of several cooperation agreements with different Indian entities, in a ceremony that took place in Goa, chaired by President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa and the Chief Executive of Goa Pramod Sawant. The importance of this event is unparalleled.

Three years ago, we made the decision to approach India in a methodical way, following the rewarding experience with INESC P&D Brazil. On the negative side, the absence of Portugal as a reference in India, even less as a technological country; on a more positive note, the significant number of potential opportunities. Ignoring India, a fifth of humankind, seemed unthinkable. A strategy was then outlined, comprehending two stages: establishing a relationship with the most prestigious engineering schools in India, and looking for alliances in Goa, a territory we believed would be more naturally receptive to our presence.

The main goals were to accelerate the Portuguese scientific progress – through a structured alliance with the best Indian academic partners, including R&D and human resources exchange – and to create a new base in partnership with local partners, in order to explore the potential of INESC TEC’s management model, concerning innovation and technology transfer and the creation of social and economic value – in India, but with Portugal’s contribution.

Since then, successive actions led a new reality: cooperation agreements have been formalised with the two most prestigious engineering institutes (no. 1 and 2, according to the Indian Government’s ranking) – IIT Madras (Indian Institute of Technology, Madras) and IIT Delhi (Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi); and an alliance was forged in Goa, through an initiative called CEMENT – Cooperation for Excellence in Marine Exploration and Navigation Technologies, bringing together R&D institutes, local companies and INESC TEC, Portugal.

In addition to INESC TEC, the CEMENT initiative includes the following organisations:

• CSIR-NIO – National Institute of Technology (Ministry of Science)
• NCPOR – National Center for Polar and Ocean Research (Ministry of Earth Sciences)
• IIT Goa – Indian Institute of Technology, Goa (Ministry of Human Resource Development)
• TERI – The Energy and Resources Institute (private and non-profit)
• GSL – Goa Shipyard Ltd (Ministry of Defense, public company)

Our focus is on establishing a centre of excellence in technologies in Goa, enabling the exploration of the oceans and navigation. INESC TEC’s expertise and skills, particularly concerning the TEC4Sea initiative, and those associated with industry, energy and computing, can actively contribute to a goal also shared by the Indian partners.

Regarding NIO and NCPOR (despite their different agendas), INESC TEC’s robotic, sensor and ocean communications technologies are of great interest, since they could help improving their activities in the oceanographic field and in the exploration of Antarctica. IIT Goa is an emerging and recently established institution; its laboratory and human resources training will be leveraged through concerted actions with INESC TEC. TERI has a profile similar to INESC TEC and the potential for complementarity is quite significant, namely in terms of the relation between biology, information and energy technologies. Finally, GSL has specific demands for increasing the efficiency of industrial shipbuilding and marine robotics for Defense, as well as visions of an alliance to exert influence in third markets in Africa and Brazil.

This potential was adequately inventoried during the BEST – Blue Economy, Science and Technology workshop, which took place September 2019. The participation of CEMENT partners in this event led to 22 joint project ideas, and encouraged the definition of themes and the selection of head scientists, objectives and possible sources of financing.

We would also like to emphasise that the relationship with IIT Madras improved significantly. After the MEET – Marine Exploration and Energy Technologies joint workshop (Chennai), which resulted in the identification of 16 joint project ideas, two new instruments were signed: a strategic agreement in the fields of Sea and Energy (also including FEUP), and an Annexure Term that opened a door to cooperation actions with the NTCPWC – National Technological Center for Ports, Waterways and Coasts – and consequently, the Ministry of Shipping.

Finally, our association with IIT Delhi was formally recognised, with the signing of the first MoU; this relationship between INESC TEC and IIT Delhi is expected to contribute to developments in Industry and Health.

In short, INESC TEC’s presence in Goa led to the exchange of 13 agreements with Indian institutions: seven MoUs, one Additional Term and five Letters of Intent to join the CEMENT. Due to various bureaucratic and logistical procedures, three of said documents were not ready to be signed on the spot – but in the meantime, and far from any public attention, the processes were successfully completed. This is a significant and quite remarkable number of agreements, and INESC TEC has a very imperative mission: to meet the expectations created.

It is important to mention that we were able to secure another valuable ally: the extraordinary Ambassador Nandini Singla, who resorted to the Embassy’s resources to support her country’s relationship with Portugal, particularly concerning science and technology. Unsurpassed, focused, Nandini Singla developed an intelligent action that streamlined cooperation and endorsed the credibility of INESC TEC towards Indian institutions, for whom we were unknown. A prime example of the generous interpretation of the role and purpose of an Ambassador. We wish there would be more alike, and at Portugal’s service.

The phrase Incredible India was adopted by the country to promote a positive image and to attract tourists and investors. It is particularly effective, since it translates an idea of fusion of mysticisms, aromas, exotic arts, spices, big crowds and variety of cultures. This subjective notion also encompasses the actual description of a country characterised by opposites, where underdevelopment coexists with colossal fortunes, and age-old wisdoms concur with advanced science and technology: the India of Ayurveda is, simultaneously, the India of nuclear energy and space exploration.

India includes Portugal in its galaxy of cultures and influences, and India is still part of the Portuguese imagining. For better or for worse, Portugal stayed in that subcontinent for 450 years, which led to a robust genetic hybridisation. The Portuguese who arrive in Goa feel like arriving home – while not at home.

Now that we have an outlined strategy, we can observe the progressive materialisation of an Initiative for the New School of Sagres for Science and Technology – or Iniciativa para a Nova Escola de Sagres da Ciência e da Tecnologia in Portuguese, where one can read INESC TEC…

We can now confidently navigate the scientific route to India, the Cape of Good Hope already sailed by and rounded.