Odisha govt signs agreement with University of California, Berkeley for cooperation in research

In the first phase, pilot projects will be launched in disaster management and climate control, healthcare, fintech, and agriculture.

The Odisha government signed an agreement with the University of California, Berkeley, in the US for cooperation in research, impact assessment of schemes and exchange of academic publication, an official statement said on Wednesday. The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed during the visit of a delegation of the state government to Silicon Valley, it said. The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed during the visit of a delegation of the state government to Silicon Valley, it said.

As part of the agreement, the state government and UC, Berkeley will collaborate on research projects, and jointly organise conferences and workshops, it said. Special emphasis will be on joint training workshops in high-tech areas and approximately 1,000 researchers are likely to be trained, it added. The MoU will also enable the state government to connect with UC, Berkeley’s illustrious alumni network for collaboration on various initiatives, the statement said.

In the first phase, pilot projects will be launched in disaster management and climate control, healthcare, fintech, and agriculture. Partnerships in emerging-tech areas such as artificial intelligence and machine learning within the governance system will bring more transformation in public delivery mechanism, it said.

Joint initiatives such as student exchange programmes, start-up exchange programmes, and start-up acceleration programmes are also expected in the future, it said. The vast scope of this agreement will bring immense benefits to the state in terms of creating large employment opportunities, the statement said. "I foresee innumerable areas of cooperation, knowledge sharing, collaboration and research in our journey together in the coming year which would create immense goodwill and produce benefits for both societies,” said Odisha’s Electronics and IT Minister Tusharkanti Behera.

Global consulting and advisory firm Frost & Sullivan has also shown interest to establish a Centre of Excellence in Bhubaneswar during the visit of the delegation, the statement said. The delegation also met representatives of Amazon, Apple, Stanford University, Eficens, Unision Capital and Iron Pillar, it said.