FAIR Deal for India

Abstract

Three accords have opened a new era in scientific collaboration between Europe and India, bolstered last week at a meeting in New Delhi between India's science minister and his counterparts from the European Union (E.U.). The first such gathering outside Europe, the parley featured India committing to a $250 million contribution for the $1.5 billion Facility for Antiproton and Ion Research (FAIR) at the GSI heavy-ion research lab in Darmstadt, Germany. Indian scientists will collaborate on the project, which once completed in 2014 will produce beams for research into nuclear physics, plasmas, and nuclear astrophysics. “It's good to have India on board,” says John Wood, head of the U.K.'s Central Laboratory of the Research Councils. In addition, India and the E.U. will each contribute $7.5 million annually to a joint research fund for projects in health, climate, and energy. Indian scientists will also be able to compete for grants under the E.U.'s 7-year, $75 billion Seventh Framework Programme, which began earlier this year. “India will be the most important and first partner in the Seventh Framework Programme,” said Annette Schavan, Germany's minister for education and research, who led the E.U. delegation. Indian science minister Kapil Sibal called the agreement “historic.”