Department of Science and Technology secretary Ashutosh Sharma has underlined the increasing attention given by India on sharing scientific data with its global partners, the DST said on Sunday. Addressing the Science & Technology Ministerial Roundtable on Saturday, organised in the 17th annual Science Technology and Society (STS) Forum, Sharma also highlighted that vaccines for coronavirus are in advanced phases of trial, and India has the capacity to supply the vaccine to a major part of humanity.

Sharma said the increasing attention given by India to sharing of scientific data is evident from India’s National Data Sharing and Accessibility Policy (INDSAP) and an open government data portal. “Scientific data sharing is being considered for inclusion in the New S T I P 2020 being framed. Data is the new water, and we do want to share it as global partners,” Sharma emphasised.

The online Science & Technology Ministerial Roundtable, organised on Saturday and hosted by Japan, deliberated on the role of international R&D collaboration, social sciences & humanities, and open science. It saw the participation of S&T heads from about 50 countries around the world and explored the opportunities arising from international collaborations in science and technology to address the challenges posed by COVID 19.

Sharma said India gives extraordinary importance to international cooperation in S&T for development and for addressing challenges of health, water, energy, environment, climate change, communication, and natural disasters. He spoke about India’s active S&T collaboration with over 40 countries in the world. “We are also part of all the major multilateral and regional S&T platforms and groupings such as the EU, BRICS, ASEAN, G20, Africa Initiatives, UN and OECD S&T platform as well as international mega-science projects such as ITER, TMT, LIGO and so on. “Coalitions for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure, International Solar Alliance and Mission Innovation are India’s global initiatives in the management of disasters and clean energy,” he added.