`Green technology thrust area in India-Russia knowledge exchange`

Kolkata: Green technology, super-computing and big data are some of the current thrust areas in knowledge exchange between India and Russia, an official said on Thursday.

Apart from student exchanges which form an essential component of bilateral cooperation in the scientific field between the two countries, industrial component is also present in collaborations, said Ashutosh Sharma, secretary, department of science and technology.

"There is general co-operation in the form of student exchanges, scientific collaborations and bringing in some technology from there (Russia) to here (India) so there's an industrial component in the joint collaborative projects.

"Energy needs, green technologies, super-computing and big data are the thrust areas under a new agreement," Sharma told media persons on the sidelines of the 60th anniversary celebrations of National Atlas and Thematic Mapping Organisation (NATMO) here.

He said that as many as 70 super-computers will be installed in India in phases in five to seven years as part of the Rs 4,500-crore National Supercomputing Mission which is jointly handled by the departments of science and technology and electronics and information technology.