Imperial College London and Science Gallery Bengaluru (SGB) have announced a groundbreaking partnership aimed at fostering significant exchange of talent and knowledge. This collaboration will involve developing new facilities, launching a joint fellowship program, and organizing public engagement activities designed to inspire young minds and build trust in science.
The announcement was made by Professor Hugh Brady, President of Imperial College, during his visit to India as part of a UK delegation led by British Prime Minister Keir Starmer. This initiative follows the successful launch of Imperial Global India in Bengaluru just five months prior.
The Hindu had the opportunity to speak with Professor Brady, who elaborated on the profound implications of this partnership for both the UK and India.
Tell us more about the new partnership between Imperial College London and Science Gallery Bengaluru.
Our shared goal is to establish a pioneering hub for innovation, connecting the UK, India, and the wider world. We will collaborate on developing state-of-the-art facilities within the Science Gallery Bengaluru, inaugurate a new joint fellowship program, and create a series of public engagement initiatives. These efforts range from encouraging young people to pursue careers in science and technology to strengthening public confidence in scientific endeavors.
We envision a dynamic, two-way flow of talent, ideas, and capital between our respective innovation ecosystems. This partnership builds upon the significant momentum already generated by our Imperial Global India Hub in Bengaluru, which has seen remarkable progress in under six months.
Does this new partnership fall under the umbrella of the Imperial Global Hub India?
Yes, absolutely. We will essentially co-locate our global hub with the Science Gallery.
It’s important to emphasize that our Bengaluru hub serves all of India. While it leverages our strong existing relationships with IISc and the National Centre for Biological Sciences, we are actively exploring other collaborative ventures. We recently unveiled our latest 10 collaborative projects, funded by our India Connect Fund. These projects address critical areas like climate change, sustainability, emerging technologies, energy, and health, involving 10 different Indian partners both in Bengaluru and across the country.
For instance, one funded project focuses on quantum modeling tools for climate adaptation in arid regions, a collaboration with IIT Bombay. Another involves cultivating methane-removing microbes from trees to combat climate change, conducted with researchers in Pune. A third explores various applications of nanorobots for biomedical purposes, in partnership with IISc Bangalore.
The India-UK relationship appears to be stronger than ever. What do collaborations in research, technology, and innovation mean for both countries in this context?
Collaboration offers both nations the opportunity to achieve greater scale and impact in research and innovation. We anticipate many more joint PhD programs in crucial fields such as quantum computing, engineering, biology, biotechnology, and clean technology. We will also see the development of more extensive research programs between the two countries and a much stronger bridge connecting their innovation ecosystems.
We are already bringing our student founders, eager to understand the Indian market, here to co-create and innovate with Indian partners. Conversely, we are providing young Indian entrepreneurs with an entry point into the UK’s innovation ecosystem. At a time when many parts of the world are becoming insular, it’s truly fantastic that India and the UK are embracing outward-looking collaboration.
Are there specific technologies or scientific disciplines that the new partnership will prioritize?
Both Imperial and our partners at Science Gallery Bengaluru are driven by the immense potential of science and technology to address the grand challenges facing humanity and our planet. This includes everything from antimicrobial resistance to food and water security, and, of course, climate change.
We are also mindful of the strength of the UK-India relationship, with both Prime Ministers placing great importance on the Technology Security Initiative. There are particular areas where we believe we can make a significant difference by working with Indian partners like Science Gallery. For example, advanced materials, quantum technologies, and biotechnology are fields where Imperial excels and where India possesses substantial capabilities.
What are your thoughts on the Indian student population at Imperial?
We currently have almost 850 Indian students. They are bright, ambitious, and incredibly dynamic. Innovation is deeply embedded in Imperial’s DNA, and our Indian students truly embrace this, and we value them greatly for it. They are enrolled across our four faculties—science, medicine, engineering, and business—and are fairly evenly distributed among undergraduate, master’s, and PhD programs.
What does India represent to Imperial’s innovator community?
Our community at Imperial in London recognizes the incredible progress India has made in science and technology, and how this is translating into vibrant innovation, entrepreneurship, and the growth of startups and scale-up companies.
We take pride in our long-standing involvement with India. Some of our professors were consultants during the establishment of IIT Delhi in the 1950s. Many of our current faculty have active collaborations in India, and in the last five years alone, we have co-authored papers with over 400 Indian partners. We also have more than 3,000 Indian alumni. Translating research into tangible impact is a core part of Imperial’s ethos, and we are inspired by how effectively this happens in India.