Advanced materials

India - Advanced materials overview

Country profile

• In 2021, according to the Scimago Journal and Country Rank, India is ranked 3rd out of 182 countries for the research of material sciences and advancements. 

Policies and Initiatives

• Impacting Research Innovation and Technology (IMPRINT) is a program developed by the former Ministry of Human Resources Development (now Ministry of Education India) supporting the Pan-IIT (Indian Institute of Technology) + IISc (Indian Institute of Science) joint initiative to address the major science and engineering challenges that India is facing. Advanced materials is a sector highlighted under IMPRINT.
• Bhabha Atomic Research Centre falls under the aegis of Department of Atomic Energy, Government of India and focuses on high-tech and advanced materials. 
   

Governance structure

Matters related to Advanced Materials can be legislated by both the central government and the state governments of India. The Ministry of Science and Technology is the apex executive body responsible for policies and initiatives related to advanced materials in India. The ministry operates under three main departments: 

• Department of Science & Technology (DST)
• Department of Biotechnology (DBT)
• Department of Scientific & Industrial Research (DSIR) / Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR)

Australia - Advanced materials overview

Country profile

• In 2021, according to the Scimago Journal and Country Rank, Australia is ranked 12th  out of 182 countries for the research of material sciences and advancements. 

Policies and initiatives

• The Department of Industry, Sciences and Resources has been working on the development and research of advanced materials in the field of space manufacturing. 
• The Department of Industry, Sciences and Resources has undertaken various initiatives to boost science and innovation, including international collaborations on science and research. 

Governance structure

Matters related to advanced materials can be legislated by both the federal and state governments of Australia. The Department of Industry, Sciences and Resources is the apex executive body to make policies and initiatives regarding advanced materials. 

Bilateral frameworks for cooperation between India and Australia

• The Australia-India Strategic Research Fund (AISRF) is Australia’s largest bilateral research fund with any country.  Established in 2006, the fund supports scientists in India and Australia to collaborate on leading research in pertinent fields of science.
• The Comprehensive Strategic Partnership (CSP): In June 2020, Australia and India agreed on a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. The first commitment is to enhancing Science, Technology and Research collaboration.
• Australia and India are involved in the Advanced Materials Congress – a flagship conference of the International Association of Advanced Materials. Sydney and New Delhi have both hosted previous conferences for the Advanced Materials Congress.
• The Australian Research Council (ARC) is one of the Australian Government's main agencies for competitively allocating research funding to academics and researchers at Australian universities. The ARC funds research and researchers under the National Competitive Grants Program (NCGP). ARC Centres of Excellence, funded for a limited period, are collaborations established among Australian and international universities and other institutions to support research in a variety of fields.

Trade and investment opportunity

• The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) works in the space of science and innovation with the vision of catalysing advancement in science and technology. They have undertaken projects in the field of material sciences, advanced and new materials.
• The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) has been working in the areas of material sciences, advanced materials in pharmaceuticals and manufacturing. 

Cooperation and collaborations

• Australia and India have a number of successful collaborations in the field of Advanced Functional and Meta Materials under the SPARC program (Scheme for Promotion of Academic and Research Collaboration):
  • University of New South Wales and PCG College of Technology 
  • National Institute of Technology Tiruchirappalli and the University of Melbourne 
  • Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur and Curtin University
  • University of Newcastle and Indian Institute of Science Education & Research Bhopal
  • Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur and Queensland University of Technology
• The ARC Centre of Excellence for Electromaterial Science researchers at the University of Wollongong, Australia signed an MoU with the Andhra Pradesh Medtech Zone (AMTZ) in India to bring expertise in 3D bioprinting techniques to India’s first integrated medical devices manufacturing zone.

• The Australia-India Strategic Research Fund supported a major collaboration in high performance alloys between Deakin University and the Indian Institute of Technology Madras (Indian project leader), the Indian Institute of Science Bangalore and General Electric (Bangalore).
• Swinburne University of Technology with the ARC Training Centre in Surface Engineering for Advanced Materials (SEAM), received an ARC grant and collaborated with Indian Institute of Technology, Madras under the program Industrial Transformation Training Centres.
• In 2018, India's first bilateral Centre of Excellence (CoE) in Advanced Materials and Manufacturing with a mutual partnership among Deakin, IIT Madras and IIT Hyderabad was established. Researchers were awarded the prestigious bilateral AISRF grant on innovations in the area of development and additive manufacturing of a new class of alloys.