The objectives of the Council's science and technology program are to
demonstrate in India the high quality, sophistication and diversity of
Australian science and technology products and services and to promote
professional and institutional links between Australia and India in these
fields. The science and technology program is by far the broadest of the
Council's areas of activity, and covers several areas of particular Council
focus, including medicine and public health, agriculture and agribusiness,
mining and energy, environmental management, and heritage conservation.

Science and technology exhibition

To demonstrate the quality and sophistication of
Australian science and technology products, the Council provided funding
for the Innovative Australians exhibition at the National Science Centre
in New Delhi in December 1998. This touring exhibition was commissioned
by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and developed by
Questacon (the Australian National Science and Technology Centre) and
IDP Education Australia. Innovative Australians uses touch screen kiosks
to present information about a wide range of Australian innovations.

To promote a wider understanding of the sophistication of Australian
science and technology products and services in India, the Council provided
funding for the Innovative Australians exhibition, held at the National
Science Centre in New Delhi from 4 to 20 December 1998. Innovative
Australians was commissioned in 1997 by the Department of Foreign Affairs
and Trade to provide a touring exhibition of Australian science and
technology, and was developed by Questacon (the Australian National Science
and Technology Centre) and IDP Education Australia. Innovative Australians uses interactive touch-screen kiosks to present information about 100
Australian innovations representing a wide range of scientific and
technological achievement.

In New Delhi, Innovative Australians was launched by the Indian
Minister for Human Resources Development, Dr Murli Manohar Joshi, and
attracted a wide range of visitors representing present and future generations
of Indian decision-makers, scientists and technologists. While other regional
science centres in India expressed interest in hosting the exhibition, this
was not possible as Innovative Australians had moved on to the next
country in its itinerary.

Medicine and public health

The Council continued to support a wide range of projects in medicine and
public health during 1998-99, with the overall aims of developing further
collaboration between Australia and India in this field and promoting
Australian health and medical services in India.

Projects in this area followed on from industry-wide initiatives developed
during the 1996 Australia India-New Horizons promotion and subsequent
Council-supported health sector initiatives. The Council provided funding to
the Australia India Health Industry Network, through Australian Business
Health, for a program of seminars in India during November-December 1998 to
promote Australian health care products and services, and for an Australian
keynote speaker at the seminars. The seminars reinforced Australia's strong
commitment to building close and lasting links with the Indian health sector,
and helped to foster a range of long-term institutional and business links
between the Australian and Indian health sectors.

The Council provided funding to Mr Jim Mackenzie of the Australian Red
Cross Blood Service of Victoria to conduct a follow-up audit and evaluation of
a previous AIC-funded project: the establishment of a model blood transfusion
and quality control system through the Department of Transfusion Medicine at
the Tata Memorial Hospital in Mumbai. The earlier project, carried out by Dr
Gordon Whyte and Mr Mackenzie, resulted in the Bombay Red Cross Blood Bank
regaining operational effectiveness and assisted the Tata Memorial Hospital to
develop a generic quality system for improved blood banks, to serve as a model
for such facilities in India. Mr Mackenzie's May 1999 visit also developed
further institutional links between the Australian and India project partners.

The Council provided funding for Dr Robin Anders of the Walter and Eliza
Hall Institute (WEHI) towards costs of a week-long visit to the International
Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB) in New Delhi and the
Central Drug Research Institute in Lucknow in July 1998 to discuss further
Australia-India collaboration in the identification and development of
potential antigens for a malaria vaccine. The Council subsequently agreed to
further funding to WEHI for an Australian consultant to conduct a feasibility
study in India in 1999 on a possible testing facility at ICGEB for the
production, to internationally recognised standards, of recombinant proteins
for clinical testing in the areas of parasite and viral immunology. These two
funding decisions were part of a Council initiative to encourage collaboration
between the two countries in malaria vaccine research, with a long-term view
to the development of an effective vaccine on a commercial basis.

The Council provided additional funding, as agreed late in 1997-98, to
Professor Michael Good of the Queensland Institute of Medical Research (QIMR)
for an expanded collaborative research project with the Postgraduate Institute
of Medical Education and Research in Chandigarh in vaccine development for
rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease. The additional Council funding
enabled researcher Dr Harpreet Vohra of the Chandigarh institute to undertake
a twelve-month research fellowship at QIMR and will enable longer-term
collaborative links to be developed in this field.

The Council agreed to provide funding to the Australian International
Health Institute for the first two stages of a proposed three-stage project to
establish and train, in conjunction with the Voluntary Health Association of
India, a network of Indian leaders in health promotion. The project will also
promote long-term links between Australia and India in primary health care.

The Council provided funding to the Australian Academy of Science for the
second year of a program of research exchanges between Australia and India in
medical science. The Council also funded the participation of Sir Gustav
Nossal, Emeritus Professor at the University of Melbourne, as opening keynote
speaker at the Tenth International Congress of Immunology in New Delhi in
November 1998, and to lecture on immunology and to discuss further
Australia-India collaboration in immunology and vaccinology.

Agribusiness

The Council sought to identify potential Australia-India projects in
agribusiness and food technology in the light of a report by Mr John Shaw and
Mr Greg Davies of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research
Organisation (CSIRO). The report was the result of an AIC-funded feasibility
study visit to India in May 1998 to identify suitable areas of collaboration
between Australia and India in these fields.

The report concluded that, while there was an encouraging level of interest
in India in collaboration with Australia in agribusiness, there was a general
lack of awareness of Australia's capabilities in this sector. In addition, the
potential for bilateral linkages was limited by the uneven pace and
application of the Indian economic reform process. The team identified
specific collaborative opportunities with potential commercial application in
areas including pest management, grain handling, germplasm exchange, and
development of counter-seasonal markets, and recommended that the Council
consider sponsoring visits to Australia by selected Indian decision-makers in
the agribusiness and food technology sector.

Subsequently, the Council agreed to provide funding to the CSIRO Wool
Technology Division to enable Dr Peter Cookson and Dr Tony Pierlot to
participate in a seminar in India to promote the use of Australian technology
in the processing and marketing of Australian wool in India and to assess the
needs of Indian woollen mills in easy fabric care technology.

The Council also provided funding to Dr Rick Willis of the School of Botany
at the University of Melbourne towards the costs of a collaborative research
project with Professor SS Narwal of Haryana Agricultural University, designed
to result in an annotated bibliography of allelopathy (the chemical
interaction of plants). The project was designed to draw together the
strengths of allelopathy research in India and Australia.

Mining and energy

Professor Chem Nayar of the Centre for Renewable Energy Systems Technology
Australia at Curtin University visited Rajasthan, Haryana, New Delhi and
Kerala states during 1998 and 1999 as part of a feasibility study on the
potential application of various forms of renewable energy to Indian rural
health schemes. Professor Nayar's project, for which funding had been agreed
by the Council during the 1997-98 financial year, sought to make relevant
Indian and international agencies aware of Australian capabilities in remote
area renewable energy technology.

The Council also continued to explore possible bilateral projects in mining
technology, including a proposed visit to Australia by a delegation of Indian
mining and environmental management representatives to examine Australian
expertise and regulatory frameworks in sustainable mining practice and mine
rehabilitation.

Environmental management

The Council has been working since the Australia India-New Horizons promotion in 1996 on a series of projects to make Australian environmental
management expertise better known in India. Towards this objective, the
Council provided funding for visits to New Delhi in March 1997 and February
1999 by the Chairman of the Environment Protection Authority of Victoria
(EPAV), Dr Brian Robinson, to present Australian viewpoints on environmental
issues and to discuss potential areas of bilateral collaboration in the
environmental field.

Following Dr Robinson's earlier visit, the Council had supported visits to
India in November 1997 and April 1998 by Mr Dennis Monahan of EPAV to carry
out a feasibility study for a training facility for Indian industry in
environmental monitoring and regulation, in collaboration with the
Confederation of Indian Industry (CII). After considering Mr Monahan's report
on his visits to India and following further consultation with the CII, the
Council agreed to provide funding to Monash University for the first year of a
project to establish and operate a training facility for Indian industry in
environmental management and regulation. Council funding was provided on the
understanding that the CII would make a matching contribution and that the
project would be self-funding within two to three years.

The Council also allocated funding during the year for the following
environmental management activities:

• Dr Frank Stagnitti of Deakin University for the first stage of a
  bilateral scientific exchange to identify sources of groundwater pollution
  in Tamil Nadu and to develop modelling and monitoring strategies to
  minimise the environmental impact of such pollution
• Dr Pichu Rengasamy of the Department of Soil and Water, Waite Institute
  of the University of Adelaide for further stages of a demonstration and
  training project in Tamil Nadu and Karnataka of a field kit to test soil
  degradation and to identify remedial action
• the Health Industry Unit, Australian Business Ltd for a demonstration
  project to apply Australian water disinfecting technology and training in
  three villages in Tamil Nadu, in partnership with Hydrotech Pty Ltd,
  Sadler Enterprises, the KJ Hospital Research and Post-Graduate Centre and
  Tespa Tools Pvt Ltd.

Heritage conservation

AusHeritage Ltd, the peak body for Australian cultural heritage
organisations, conducted a series of workshops in India during December 1998
with AIC funding support to promote Australian expertise in cultural heritage
conservation. On the basis of the workshop outcomes, the Council agreed to the
reallocation of an unexpended portion of the AIC project funding toward the
costs of a follow-up visit to India by AusHeritage members in mid-1999 to seek
to secure cooperative working projects for Australian conservation and
heritage service providers.

The Council provided funding to the Australian Conservation Training
Institute to conduct a one-week ecotourism planning and management workshop in
India during 1988-99, with the Wildlife Institute of India as the principal
project partner.

The Council also provided funding to Mr David Demant of Museum Victoria to
enable his participation in the Second Science Centre World Congress in
Calcutta in January 1999 and to develop and enhance networks between
Australian and Indian museums and science centres.