ANFF and NIF-India MoU promotes international partnership for innovation
The Australian National Fabrication Facility (ANFF) and the National Innovation Foundation (NIF)-India have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), uniting two world-leading enablers of technological innovation.
This MoU is an outcome of ever-increasing engagement between these two nations and their leadership. The potential of bringing these organisations together was recognised by Kailash Sriram and the team at IPACS and that inspiration has now led to this development. International co-operation in technical areas can be best realized by public institutions on either side, and ANFF and NIF have attempted to manifest these co-operative aims into tangible actions.
In other words, this MoU is an instance where nations have been able to walk the talk simply because responsible Institutions on either side chose to rise to the occasion and do something together for the larger benefit of the nations and the people.
NIF is India’s national initiative to strengthen grassroots technological innovations and outstanding traditional knowledge. By scouting, supporting and spawning cutting-edge technologies developed by individuals and local communities in any technological field, NIF helps grassroots innovators and outstanding traditional knowledge holders get due recognition, respect and reward for their breakthroughs. NIF also tries to ensure that such innovations diffuse widely through commercial and/or non-commercial channels, generating material or non-material incentives for them and others involved in the value chain.
ANFF CEO Jane Fitzpatrick celebrates the establishment of this new partnership, ‘ANFF is excited about the possibilities this MoU will bring. The synergies between NIF-India and ANFF are really clear – we have similar visions, and the complementary capabilities of our organisations can bring great benefits for those with whom we work.’
This partnership is a significant step toward leveraging these synergies, wherein focus is placed on creating new opportunities in both countries towards technology, entrepreneurship and grassroots innovation, building capacity of innovators, sharing information with stakeholders and taking technologies to logical conclusions, such as dissemination through social and commercial channels.
The NIF portfolio provides the potential for ANFF to offer services that span from fundamental research right through to batch and low volume manufacturing of key components and prototype verification. ‘Closer working relationships with our international peers have the potential to solve tangible problems for those in the real world,’ says Jane Fitzpatrick
The signing ceremony took place on 20 January 2024 at the 9th India International Science Festival in Faridabad, India. In addition to attending the signing ceremony, ANFF National Facility Manager Simon Doe also participated in a Round Table discussion on ‘India – international collaboration opportunities.’
ANFF and NIF-India are excited about the next steps in this partnership, not just by leveraging each other’s strengths, but also by engaging additional partners in both Australia and India like the University of South Australia’s Future Industries Institute, IPACS Australia, and India’s NIF Incubation and Entrepreneurship Council.