Indo-German Workshop on Technology Development and Transfer: New-Delhi, February 7th - 10th, 1995

Effective technology transfer is a key feature of industrial competitiveness. It mainly aims at making available new technological solutions to industrial users as early as possible. At the second Indo-German High-Level Meeting on Science and Technology in New Delhi in April 1994 it was agreed that a bilateral workshop on technology transfer should be held in India, addressing the issues of technology development by R&D institutions and industrial units and the mechanisms of their transfer to user industries. Experts of both nations discussed these items on a workshop in February 1995 in New Delhi. They focussed on the mechanisms, modalities, instruments and organizational set-ups for facilitating the commercialisation of innovations with special emphasis on small and medium enterprises. Best practises and successful strategies in both countries were studied and compared to derive therefrom appropriate and applicable models. The workshop recommended that both countries would exchange information on technology transfer institutions including their fields of operation and outstanding features, the technologies available and required. Also suggested was the exchange of personnel for strengthening the technology transfer mechanisms. Positive factors for research and technology development by the German enterprises in India emanating out of highly qualified S&T personnel, well developed R&D systems and tax incentives were taken note of. The important issue of Intellectual property rights to strengthen technology transfer and the R&D based In India were also discussed. The workshop also enabled the preparation of fruitful bilateral cooperations including a cooperation in physics based technologies and the information of technical guidelines. This workshop was considered as another milestone and good example of the successful and fruitful bilateral Indo-German cooperation in Science and Technology. It encourages both sides to follow the route of spending investments in the area of technological innovation to reach mutual benefit