Organised by

Convenor: French Institute in India, French Embassy in India and CNRS Indi

Programme

Moderator:

Prof. Manell Zakharia
⁽⁵⁸⁾ Ecole Navale-French Naval Academy, France

The workshop will tackle the following questions:

• What do the main marine science research programs in France and in India have to offer to this cooperation? Which are the complementarities between the two countries?
• Discovering some of the important players
• Main outcomes from Knowledge Summit 3 for marine sciences and way forward such as
  • Which agreements exist and should be needed in order to facilitate the access and exchange of data? Access to maps?
  • How to grant Joint PhDs ?
• What can we expect from funding agencies such as CEFIPRA for marine sciences?
• Conversation with various research and funding agencies of the two countries towards bilateral cooperation
• Which mechanisms do we need to foster the link between basic research and industrial application in the frame of our bilateral cooperation?
• Which mechanisms do we need to promote interdisciplinary research projects in the frame of our bilateral cooperation?

PART1: Tools for Indo-French cooperation

2pm
Introduction by Luisa Terranova⁽²²⁷⁾, Counsellor, Political section
⁽²²⁷⁾ French Embassy in India, France

2.15pm
Blue economy and marine sciences in Indo-French bilateral cooperation
Olivier Fudym⁽²²⁷⁾, Attaché for Scientific and Academic Cooperation
⁽²²⁷⁾ French Embassy in India, Mumbai, France

The France-India roadmap on Blue Economy and Ocean Governance signed in February 2022 includes an important    scientific and academic pillar towards improving our knowledge of the ocean to innovate and protect. We propose an overview of programmes, funding mechanisms, tools and challenges for Indo-French scientific collaborations in marine sciences.

2.30pm
Indo-French collaborations: the role of CNRS
Srini Kaveri⁽²²⁸⁾, Director
⁽²²⁸⁾ Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique Office in India, (CNRS), France

CNRS and SU have extensive experience in marine sciences. They have developed excellence in research and teaching and proven experience in the operation and management of marine stations.  In the brief presentation, we will display the mechanisms that both India and France have developed to nurture the collaborations with an emphasis on marine sciences.

PART2: Some opportunities for Indo-French cooperation in the blue economy

2.45pm
Technologies for Ocean Observation and exploration
Dr. G A Ramadass⁽¹⁾, Director
⁽¹⁾ National Institute of Ocean Technology / MoES, India

3pm
IFREMER, a marine science and technology research institution open to international cooperation
Natalia Martin Palenzuela⁽¹⁶⁾, Directrice des Affaires Européennes et Internationales
⁽¹⁶⁾ Ifremer, France

A pioneer in ocean science, IFREMER’s vision is to advance science, expertise and innovation in partnership with key international actor to: protect and restore the ocean, make a sustainable use of marine resources and create and share ocean data, information & knowledge. Join us in this session to explore possibilities for collaboration.  

3.15pm
R&D in Marine Science & Engineering at IIT Goa
Prof. B.K. Mishra⁽⁷⁰⁾, Director
⁽⁷⁰⁾ Indian Institute of Technology Goa, India

Marine science and engineering is an interdisciplinary research area. It also requires inter-organizational cooperation to meet the challenges. IIT Goa has taken several concrete steps to focus on this exciting area of research. In this presentation, we will highlight some of the ongoing and long-term R&D activities. We will also briefly touch on the metallurgy of marine resources.

3.30pm Coffee-break

4pm
Pôle Mer Bretagne Atlantique: a catalyst to serve the maritime innovation
Sébastien Cann⁽²⁰⁸⁾, Business developer
⁽²⁰⁸⁾ Pôle Mer Bretagne Atlantique, France

The Pôle Mer cluster’s strength lies in its capacity to support projects at every level: identifying innovations, mobilising resources and external interventions via its network of members, and strengthening collaborative ventures. Get an overview of the various opportunities and supports to develop Indo-French cooperation.

4.15pm
Blue Observer, sail-powered scientific platform
By Amadeus Beaujolin⁽⁹⁷⁾, Business Development Director
⁽⁹⁷⁾ Blue Observer, France

Blue Observer is a sail-powered oceanographic platform for the scientific community. It is an economical, clean, silent and flexible solution for robust data acquisition. Through international public-private partnerships, our platform facilitates global interaction between scientists to improve the understanding and preservation of the ocean.

4.30pm
R&D mutualization to overcome the bottlenecks faced by Offshore Renewable Energy development
By Dr. Yann Hervé De Roeck⁽²³⁾ and Dr  Jean François Filipot^(23)
(23) France Energies Marines, France

France and India show a huge potential for deployment of renewable energies in their national maritime areas. Large scale deployment of offshore energy converters faces a number of technical and socio-environmental challenges to become a reality. It seems crucial to join forces and develop synergies enabling efficient and applied R&D programs to support all key players of the sector.

PART3: Some examples of Projects

4.45pm
Recent Indo-French Projects of Naval Group
Luc Martin^(48)
(48) Naval Group, France

After Signing the GOAT MoU, Naval Group has initiated two collaboration projects (of 3 years) that have been selected by CEFIPRA in 2022:

• Sonar Acquisition Resolution Improvement (SARI), in cooperation with IIT Goa: SARI project consists in improving underwater imaging for offshore applications and for the installation and/or the maintenance and of immerged structures.
• UndeRwater Acoustic COmposite Metamaterial (RACCOM), in cooperation with NIT Rourkela, Indian Rubber Manufacturers Research Association and IEMM- ISEN Lille: RACOMM consists in reducing the sound impact on environment of ships, underwater structures or offshore platforms.

5pm
Indo-French collaboration in marine ecology: the example of LECOB CNRS/ CES IIS junction
Dr Katell Guizien⁽²²⁹⁾ and Dr Kartik Shanker^(230)
(229) CNRS‐Sorbonne Université, Laboratoire d’Ecogéochimie des Environnements Benthiques, LECOB, Observatoire Océanologique de Banyuls Sur Mer, France
⁽²³⁰⁾ Centre for Ecological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science, India

During a first workshop at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore in March 2016, common interest for developing inter-disciplinary science necessary to coral reef conservation and marine spatial planning was identified between the Center for ecological studies and the Laboratoire d’Ecogéochimie des Environnements Benthiques. Building up on the successful experience of co-supervision of a PhD student working on marine connectivity along the Indian coastline (Bharti et al. 2022), a project focussed on the Vulnerability of Andamans and Nicobar islands was funded by the CEFIPRA.

5.15pm
Indo-French collaboration on tropical Indian Ocean oceanography & climate
Matthieu Lengaigne⁽²³¹⁾ and Jérôme Vialard^(232)
(231) IRD, Marine Biodiversity, Exploitation and Conservation (MARBEC), France
⁽²³²⁾ IRD, Laboratoire d'Océanographie - Expérimentation et Approches Numériques (LOCEAN), France

The CSIR-NIO (National Institute of Oceanography) and IRD (Institut de Recherche pour le Développement) maintain a collaboration on tropical Indian Ocean oceanography and climate variability and change since 2004, involving bi-lateral exchanges of students, scientists and about 80 joint publications. We will illustrate this joint research through examples on air-sea interactions below cyclones, the Bay of Bengal hydrological cycle and regional climate change.

5.30pm
Discussion and sum up

6pm
End of the session