The recent visit of a delegation from European Union first at Rajiv Gandhi University and then at Climate Change Cell of  Department of Environment and Forests and at the State Remote Sensing Application Centre is no doubt a cause of great excitement and satisfaction for Arunachal Pradesh. The high-level team must have perceived beforehand that there is a substantial potential for the flourish of science and technology in state and after physical visit and interactions they have confirmed it magnanimously. They have welcomed the researched fraternity of state to use the globally respected Horizon 2020 platform for collaborative research under bilateral or multilateral funding schemes.

If the world is increasingly becoming a knowledge based society where innovative research will be a frontal deciding factor for mankind’s progress, European Union (EU) is one of the leading regions when it comes to research and innovation. Their current flagship blueprint for research and innovation is known by the name of  Horizon 2020 which started in 2014 and will continue till 2020 with a budget of nearly euro 80 billion, making it the biggest of its kind ever. The idea behind this massive investment is to enable more breakthroughs, discoveries and world-firsts by taking great ideas from lab to market, all for the making a meaningful difference to people's lives. Significantly, the scheme is not exclusively European and is wide open for participation of best researchers and research centres from across the world. India has been taken seriously by EU as a reliable collaborative partner since the pool of talent available here is superlative. If through participation in Horizon 2020, Indian gains will be access to latest knowledge, data , superior research infrastructures and connection to world-leading teams, networks & value chains, EU will be equitably benefitted by utilizing one of the best brains of the world.

The co-funding mechanism has already started showing its calibre. A total of Rs 240 crores is now currently under  utilization for developing a NextGen Influenza Vaccine with equal fund sharing by the EU and India’s Department of Biotechnology. Besides this, EU-India collaboration will jointly fund 7 research and innovation projects to tackle water challenges where the participating institutionswill be  various IITs, CSIR-NEERI and TERI.

It is not without reasons that the EU team has suo moto expressed intentions in areas such as agri-horticulture development, geo-hazards mapping, climate change studies solar energy etc, The very presence of State Remote Sensing Application Centre puts the state in an advantageous position to clinch such research projects where remote sensing technologies will be key technical determinants.

If and once there is a successful beginning with a revered  EU association tag, a new horizon for innovative research in particular and science education in general will unfold for Arunachal.