To support collaborative research into booming technologies, such as artificial intelligence, big data, cloud computing, blockchain and others, the UK government has launched a £4 million fund, which is about INR 37Crores, in India.

As part of the India-UK Technology Partnership which was established in April 2018, the initiative has been put forth recently. The collaboration is focussed to recognized and pair businesses, venture capital, and universities from various regions in the UK with states in India.

It is expected that the idea of Innovation Challenge Fund would

motivate the industry and academia to collaborate and develop tech solutions for social, economic and environmental challenges in India, a statement said.

The statement further included that the initiative is primarily concentrating on tech innovations like artificial intelligence/ data in Karnataka and future mobility in Maharashtra. The successful bidders will likely have international partners, including from the UK.

The fund is eyeing proposals in areas of safety and convenience, technology leaps, like energy storage tech, temperature-controlled transport, and drone mobility. It will also help in projects being developed for improving connectivity, and recycling and upgrading, and smart mobility.

“The UK technology sector is a huge success story and its products have an incredible power to improve people’s lives, I am delighted to announce the launch of this important fund which shows the UK and India is working together as a force for good to address the key challenges facing India today. The UK and India are leaders in the development and use of digital tech, and there is a huge amount we can learn from each other and big opportunities to join forces,” asserted Jan Thompson, the British Deputy High Commissioner to India.