Here's some heartening news for Indian science. The world’s largest basic science funding agency the US — National Science Foundation (NSF), which has an annual budget of $ 5.5 billion — is increasing its role in India. It will soon place its own personnel in the US Embassy, a first step to opening a full-fledged office here.

NSF director Arden L Bement, who is in the country on a four-day visit, said the Foundation is looking for ways at “increasing presence” in India and get personnel to ensure “direct contact” with Indian scientists. In the 54 years of its existence, over 160 NSF-supported researchers have won the Nobel Prize.

Interestingly, the areas NSF is looking for direct intervention in India include engineering and mathematics, two disciplines identified by President George W Bush in which the US is likely to lose its edge to India and China.

Earlier this year, Bush had announced an “American Competitiveness Initiative”, to encourage innovation and to give US children a “firm grounding in math and science.”

In addressing this challenge, Bement hopes to tap the vast Indian knowledge pool and admits NSF’s approach will be of “competing through collaboration.” ACI is big, since over the next 10 years US hopes to invest $136 billion in R&D. The areas where collaboration will be increased with India include geo-sciences, life sciences and computers.

To better steer its international collaborative programs, NSF already has offices in Tokyo, Paris and Beijing. Bement said India has had only 330 collaborative programmes with NSF while China has over 800. The “dramatic increase in numbers in China” happened after the NSF established full presence there.

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