The American supercomputer then in operation in New Delhi…was locked in a special room that only American technicians had access to, while the Indian scientists could only use terminals on other floors. If there was a failure, it was up to the Americans to fix it. “Our [Bulgarian] machine, they could do whatever they wanted with it!”
Krassimir Markov, 2016, quoted in: Petrov, 2017, Cyber-Socialism at Home and Abroad: Bulgarian Modernisation, Computers, and the World, 1967-1989 (Columbia University), p. 242.
Summary
Deeper and more productive S&T collaboration between the EU and India is immanent, if policymakers seize the opportunity.
The global S&T environment is radically changing. The nature of this change is complicated and sometimes hard to grasp, but also presents unprecedented opportunities.
The EU countries are already the dominant scientific collaborator in Indian science ahead of the USA (based on the latest available bibliographic analysis).*
India is a crucial motor of global S&T. This role is predicted to expand over the coming decade.
A route map, gauged over the medium and long term, would deepen collaboration with equitable benefits, as well as reducing the risks of policy self-sabotage.
The fundamental question is not whether more integrated and even expanded S&T cooperation is possible, but whether policymakers have the presence of mind to abandon out-dated notions.
Notes:
*Sum of % Internationally Collaborated Papers (2011-2020) for Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Netherlands and Poland, calculated from Table 2 of Dua, et al., 2023, Measuring and characterizing international collaboration patterns in Indian scientific research, in: Scientometrics.
India science policy bibliography
Please contact me if you would like to know more.
Dr. William Burns PhD MSc
Email: william@resorg.news
Science Think Tank 