EU-India relations and cooperation in research is substantially progressing since the signing of the S&T Cooperation Agreement. India has become a valuable partner with the EU in major international projects. The strong partnership between the EU and India, their great traditions in S&T as well as the recent political impetus provided by the EU-India Ministerial Science Conference, are now being translated into ambitious, high quality, mutually beneficial co-operative Programmes, Projects and Dialogues.
Within this context, the European Union has assigned a Mission to a group of European and Indian organizations under a project called SYNCHRONISER – fully funded by the EU Research and Development programme – “to boost the impact of EU-India Policy Dialogue in the field of ICT.”

This core objective will be realised by convening elite researchers and industry stakeholders from both regions in a common platform called the “Synchroniser Steering Committee (SSC)” to brainstorm and identify precise research paths following the joint research priorities shortlisted by the policymakers at the Annual Meetings of the EU-India Joint Working Group (JWG) on Information Societies. In addition, the project will analyse and map the long-term research perspectives of both the regions backed by identification of areas for future co-funding opportunities that will broaden the scope of the Policy Dialogue.

The outcome of SYNCHRONISER will not only enrich and support the research dimension of the EU-India ICT policy dialogue, but also serve as guidance to policy- makers of the IT industry in terms of priorities of industry development, industry adjustment and preferential policies for public and private investors, etc. The projects will strengthen the interplay between research and policy.
The Department of Information Technology, Government of India has extended full support to accomplish this Mission.