Visit of Mrs Frédérique Vidal, French Minister of Higher Education, Research and Innovation

Mrs Frédérique Vidal, French Minister of Higher Education, Research and Innovation, is in the official delegation of the French President’s first state visit to India scheduled from 9th to 12th March 2018.

The Minister extends her visit in India by adding a day’s programme in Bangalore on 12th March 2018, with a high-level delegation comprising of the President of the French space agency CNES and Directors of the most prestigious French research institutions such as CNRS, ENS, INRA, IRD and INSERM.

In the course of her trip in Bangalore, Mrs Vidal will inaugurate the Indo-French Centre of Excellence in Electricity Automation and Energy at the New Horizon College of Engineering in the morning of Monday, 12th March. This initiative would impart technical training to future professionals, thus marrying theoretical knowledge with practical use of tools and equipments – a sure shot success to an easy entry and integration into the related industries.

The Minister will then visit the ISRO Satellite Integration and Test Establishment. France and India go back a long way, over 50 years, with their collaboration programmes in the field of space.

The Minister has a collective meeting with French companies who have set up a R&D centre in Bangalore and are pursuing these activities at their premises. This was followed by a guided tour of Numa Bangalore and Airbus Bizlab, both global business accelerators for start-ups with innovative ideas.

Mrs. Vidal’s trip in India will conclude with meetings at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), where two academic cooperation agreements were signed with French institutes INRA and CNRS respectively.