Union Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY), Govt of India & DG for Communications Networks, Content & Technology, European Commission on Monday signed an "Intent of Cooperation on High-Performance Computing (HPC), Weather Extremes & Climate Modeling and Quantum Technologies” at a virtual ceremony held simultaneously on November 21 at MeitY, New Delhi and at DG CONNECT, Brussels.

The Intent of Cooperation is aimed at establishing collaboration on HPC applications using Indian and European Supercomputers in the areas of Bio molecular medicines, COVID therapeutics, mitigating climate change, predicting natural disasters, and quantum computing.

The Intent of Cooperation builds further on commitments by both sides for deepening technological cooperation on quantum and high-performance computing during the India-EU leaders meeting on May 8. “Moreover, the signing of the agreement assumes significance in the context of the decision to set up EU-India Trade and Technology Council (TTC)” on April 25, an EU statement said.

The agreement was signed by MeitY secretary Alkesh Kumar Sharma and DG CONNECT director general Roberto Viola.

Speaking on the occasion, Alkesh Sharma said high performance computing is tackling some of the world’s biggest challenges and the demand for such systems is increasing rapidly in various domains. Under this partnership, India and the EU will leverage expertise from both sides to optimise high-performance computing toward developing advanced technology solutions in multiple fields.

Viola said combining the experience and expertise of India and the EU, and building on long-standing cooperation and trust can “help one another overcome the greatest challenges of our age, Covid-19 and climate change”.

The agreement will also allow the two sides to jointly explore the frontiers of quantum technologies, DG Roberto Viola added.

Image source: Hindustan Times