Thales and Indian Institute of Technology Madras sign Memorandum of Understanding

10.03.2018

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Thales and the Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras) today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to create a jointly supervised PhD fellowship programme in coordination with CNRS. Thales and IIT Madras look forward to strengthening Indo-French scientific collaboration while contributing towards the development of highly specialised technical skills in India. The MoU exchange ceremony took place in the presence of Mr Prakash Javadekar, honourable Minister of Human Resource Development, Government of India, and H.E. Fr d rique Vidal, Minister of Higher Education, Research and Innovation, Government of France, at The Knowledge Summit.

Thales already has similar agreements for jointly supervised PhDs with prestigious institutions like Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bangalore, IIT Bombay and IIT Delhi. These agreements underline Thales' research focus and collaborations with academia to create technologies for smarter and faster decision making for problem solving in complex situations.

Speaking at the ceremony, Emmanuel de Roquefeuil, Vice President & Country Director, Thales in India said, As a global technology leader, we are always excited about investing in the future through varied initiatives focused on research and engineering. Given this focus, IIT Madras is a natural partner and we are very proud of this association. We believe it will serve our common objective of fostering a strong Indo-French research ecosystem and also support the Skill India initiative of the Indian government.

Prof. Bhaskar Ramamurthi, Director, IIT Madras, said, We greatly value this partnership with Thales as our students will benefit from access to world class research environments and guidance from highly capable academics and researchers. It is these partnerships which not only help develop technologies for tomorrow but also bring industry and academia closer. IIT Madras has earlier entered into joint Ph.D. degree agreements with University of Bordeaux and cole Centrale de Nantes in France. This partnership with Thales will facilitate these collaborative research programs.

Dr. Srinivas Kaveri, Director, CNRS in India, said, Partnerships like these help strengthen Indo-French relations, promote cultural diversity and enable sharing of ideas between Indian and French researchers. This unique programme will bring together shared minds to foster innovations and technologies for tomorrow.

The students selected for the jointly supervised PhD fellowships will have an Indian supervisor and a French co-supervisor (from one of the identified CNRS laboratories). Selected students from IIT Madras will have the opportunity to conduct a part of their research projects in France in areas like electromagnetism and antennas simulation and modelling, airborne complex system engineering, artificial Intelligence and data management systems, and advanced electronics systems and nanotechnologies. Partnering with top universities worldwide is an important aspect of innovation for Thales which created joint projects with over 50 prestigious universities and research laboratories worldwide. Journal Nature ranks Thales among the 100 leading companies for high-quality science worldwide. The Group also ranks among the worlds 100 most innovative companies by Clarivate Analytics.

About Thales

The people we all rely on to make the world go round - they rely on Thales. Our customers come to us with big ambitions: to make life better, to keep us safer. Combining a unique diversity of expertise, talents and cultures, our architects design and deliver extraordinary high technology solutions. Solutions that make tomorrow possible, today.

From the bottom of the oceans to the depth of space and cyberspace, we help our customers think smarter and act faster - mastering ever greater complexity and every decisive moment along the way. With 65,000 employees in 56 countries, Thales reported sales of 15.8 billion in 2017.

About Thales in India

Present in India since 1953, Thales is headquartered in New Delhi and has 450 employees. Thales has other operational offices and sites that are spread across Gurgaon, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Chennai and Mumbai, among others. Since the beginning, Thales has been playing an essential role in India's growth story by sharing its technologies and expertise in Defence, Transport and Aerospace markets.

About IIT Madras

Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IITM) was established in 1959 by the Government of India as an Institute of national importance. The activities of the Institute in various fields of Technology and Science are carried out in 16 academic departments and several advanced interdisciplinary Research Academic Centres. The Institute offers undergraduate and post - graduate programmes leading to the B.Tech., M.Sc., M.B.A., M.Tech., M.S., and Ph.D., degrees in a variety of specialisations. IITM is a residential institute with more than 550 faculty and 9000 students. Students from 18 countries are enrolled here. The campus is self-contained and is located on a beautiful wooded area of about 250 hectares. IITM fosters an active entrepreneurial culture with strong curricular support and through the IITM Incubation Cell.

About CNRS

The Centre National de Recherche Scientifique (National Centre for Scientific Research) is a public organization under the responsibility of the French Ministry of Education and Research.

As the largest fundamental research organisation in Europe, CNRS carried out research in all fields of knowledge, through its ten institutes.

LINK:	https://www.thalesgroup.com/en/india/press-release/thales-and-indian-i...
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