In a bid to take scientific cooperation to a new level, India and Germany on Tuesday signed a number of agreements in the field of science and technology, including one to set up an Indo-German centre, which will act as an interface between research and business.

The showpiece event of the day, however, was the flagging of the Science Express — a multimedia science exhibition on train — by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who is on a four-day state visit to India. Modeled on the world-famous Science Tunnel, designed by the Max Planck Society, the Science Express will travel to 57 destinations in the country, covering more than 15,000 km over the next eight months.

India wished to host the Science Tunnel, but it was already booked for the next two years. Therefore, it was decided to replicate the model on a train, a concept that pleased the President of the Max Planck Society.

“Conceptually, I think the idea of Science Express is much superior. The Science Tunnel is a static model, while this train can take the exhibition to a much larger audience, thereby multiplying its utility manifold,” Professor Peter Gruss told The Indian Express.

Gruss said both countries were also looking at the possibility of inviting famous scientists, including Nobel laureates, from the various institutes under the Max Planck Society to organise special events like lectures or student interactions at some of the stations that the train will travel to.

Manmohan Singh and Merkel later witnessed the signing of an MoU between the Science Ministers of both the countries to set up a centre, to develop effective business models from the research being carried out in different institutions of the country. It will also explore areas for public-private partnership in scientific research. The two countries committed 10 million euros each for the next five years for this centre.

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