EADS To Promote Aerospace Research In India

EADS signed a letter of intent (LoI) with CEFIPRA for creating a new innovation initiative named EADS-CEFIPRA Aerospace Programme at the India-France Technology Summit 2013. 

Under this programme, calls will be given to leading Indian universities and institutes to propose research projects for funding. The programme aims to foster research in India in the field of aerospace, particularly related to topics such as avionics, composite materials, high performance computing, nanotechnology and applied mathematics. In addition, the letter of intent envisages the launch of EADS Postdoctoral Fellowship in India. Directed towards young French scientists, it will sponsor 2-3 postdoctoral fellows annually to pursue aerospace related research work in top universities and R&D institutions of India. The duration of the programme will be 5 years starting from 2014.

The LoI was signed by Arnaud Marfurt, Vice-President, Innovation Works (International Operations), EADS and Dr.Debapriya Dutta, Director, CEFIPRA. Speaking on the occasion, Arnaud Marfurt said: This confirms our commitment to invest in promotion of aerospace research in India. India with its huge talent pool and top notch research institutes represents an important innovation hub for EADS. Such initiatives not only add value to our global R&D and engineering efforts but also bring us closer to our customers here.

The LoI comes close on the heels of EADS setting up a research Chair in the field of Mathematics of Complex Systems in partnership with the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) on 1 March in Bengaluru. Held by Prof. Mythily Ramaswamy, professor and researcher at the Centre for Applicable Mathematics, TIFR and Prof. Spenta Wadia, distinguished professor and Director, International Centre for Theoretical Sciences, TIFR, the Chairs lead objective is to develop innovative research involving theoretical and computational work in general mathematics of complex systems including control theory and data assimilation.