India & France sign MoU to establish a marine biology institute

Under the MoU signed during the visit of Modi to France, India’s Department of Biotechnology would  join hands with the Université Pierre Et Marie Curie (UPMC) and the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (France’s National Centre for Scientific Research- CNRS) to set up a the National Institute of Marine Biology and Biotechnology in India.

As a part of this France would contribute expertise in developing high standard marine stations for collaborative research programmes, train manpower, facilitate setting up efficient research infrastructure, facilities & technologies.

The Institute will carry out fundamental science research with a multidisciplinary approach and will collaboratively address the most important topics in marine biology and marine biotechnology.

The collaboration will help set up a high-tech hub and two major ‘spokes’ in mainland India. These centres will train a new generation of marine biologists and bio-technologists in the use of the best scientific methods and techniques. In parallel, India will develop its own marine stations while learning from this collaborative hub. The smaller stations will be set up in chosen locations from the Andamans to Kutchand Lakshadweep escalating the development of the country’s own programmes.