The Embassy of India in Addis Ababa

Last Updated on March 4, 2019

As part of the India-Ethiopia bilateral partnership in the area of science & technology, the two countries have agreed to establish the “India-Ethiopia Centre for Innovation, Technology Transfer and Commercialization”. This announcement was made during the recent 6^th DST-FICCI Global R&D Summit 2019 held in Hyderabad on 21-22 February 2019. Dr. Harsh Vardhan, Union Minister of Science & Technology, Earth Sciences, Environment, Forests and Climate Change launched the programme along with his Ethiopian counterpart Minister of Innovation and Technology, Dr. (Prof) Getahun Mekuria, who was a special guest of honour at the Summit.

The theme of the Global R&D Summit 2019 was ‘International Collaboration in Research and Development for Sustainable Growth’. Africa was the partner continent and other than Ministers from Ethiopia and Zambia, senior officials from Rwanda, other delegates from African continent and 200 institutions, academic centres of excellence and R&D experts of India participated in this Summit.

The India-Ethiopia Centre for Innovation, Technology Transfer and Commercialization would aim to deploy at least 50 demonstrated and validated Indian technologies and innovations over a period of five years. The joint projects/ventures thus created with Ethiopian partners will deliver at least 50 sustainable small & medium enterprises to stimulate job creation and economic growth in Ethiopia. The Centre would create an ecosystem to foster innovation and equip future entrepreneurs with requisite skills to contribute towards economic and social development of Ethiopia. Technologies and innovations offered through this Centre would focus on sectors like agriculture, food processing, energy, waste management, education, information technology, healthcare, etc. The programme will be implemented by Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce in coordination with Ministry of Innovation & Technology, Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia.

The innovation programme with Ethiopia is conceived as part of India’s commitment under the India-Africa Forum Summit-III held in October 2015 in New Delhi. It is inspired by the ten guiding principles of India’s engagement with Africa as outlined by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi. It may be recalled that in November 2018, as part of a similar initiative, the Mahatma Gandhi Centre for Leadership and Entrepreneurship was set up in Djibouti to support and train youth and equip them with requisite skills as future entrepreneurs.