JIPMER held a Franco-Indian Campus program on academic and research collaboration in the field of healthcare, with ILIADE (Innovation through plants and artificial intelligence for India and France), a consortium of four French and four Indian institutes and universities. The program aims to develop cooperation in development of academic and research collaborations besides exchange of faculty and students for training and mutual exposure to conditions unique to the healthcare themes of each country. The program was attended by the Consul General of France in Pondicherry, Mr Etienne Holland-Piegue and, French attaché for scientific and academic cooperation in Bangalore, French Institute in India (IFI), Antoine Guillemet.
Mr Etienne Holland-Piegue while addressing the gathering mentioned the long-standing ties between the two countries, especially the three-hundred-year-old ties with Pondicherry. He reminded the audience of the establishment of JIPMER nearly two hundred years ago as 'École de Médicine de Pondichéry', and continuing close ties between France and Pondicherry. He considered the ILIADE project a wonderful initiative of cooperation, with many areas of common interest both in the academic and research domains that will enhance the healthcare in both countries. He said that the exchange mobilities of students and faculty between JIPMER and the member French universities will be a great avenue for AI driven advances in research of the future and medical innovation.
JIPMER Director, Dr. V.S. Negi highlighted the long-standing connection between JIPMER and France, previous and ongoing Indo-French projects, and the ample opportunities ILIADE project provides to enhance the learning experience of French and Indian students and researchers in order to conduct high end research beneficial to the advancement of healthcare in both countries. He also elaborated the facilities that would be provided to French invitees under exchange program of the consortium project. The principal coordinator of the ILIADE project from JIPMER, Prof. Reena Gulati, facilitated an active and fruitful interaction between members of JIPMER and invited faculty representing universities of the consortium who informed the audience regarding the areas of training and research in which collaborative projects could be developed. The team of delegates also visited some departments with common areas of interest.