Group will support a deepening of U.S.-India collaboration in science, research, academia, entrepreneurship and innovation. By Raif Karerat
The U.S.-India Brain Trust, which aims to increase greater collaboration on cutting-edge research and further the dialogue between the United States and India via scientific pursuits, was launched on May 12.
At the inaugural dinner held at the posh Chevy Chase Club, the organization introduced itself to the public as a new beacon for the already established partnership between the two countries.
Among those in attendance were Arun Kumar Singh, India’s ambassador to the United States; Paul Wolfowitz, a former president of the World Bank and former U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense; and Claudio Lilienfeld, director of government affairs for the Asia Pacific at Gilead Sciences.
In his inaugural remarks, Singh highlighted a number of areas where the United States and India are cooperating at the moment, including information technology. “Because we are an open society, today, the best partner for the U.S. in digital technology is clearly India,” he said.
“I encourage all of you to contribute to this process of [increasing the India-U.S.] partnership,” the ambassador told the gathering, pointing out that “we already have a number of existing programs for cooperation.”
In the group’s first presentation Dr. Manoj Desai, Vice President, Medicinal Chemistry, Gilead Sciences, spoke about “the discovery and development of new Antiretrovirals.”
The U.S.-India Brain Trust seeks to assemble some of the brightest minds who — by their very actions and livelihoods — support a deepening of U.S.-India collaboration in science, research, academia, entrepreneurship, and innovation, according to the trust’s mission statement.
“Scientific progress being generated by the United States and India in every discipline, from the green revolution to major advances in medical discovery, are changing the we collaborate,” stated Dr. Krishna Banaudha — who spearheaded the efforts to establish the Indo-U.S. Brain Trust, along with Ron Somers, the founder of the India First Group and a former president of the U.S.-India Business Council.
“We need to celebrate these achievements and recognize them, and find ways to deepen our collaboration, organizing events where scientists in India and scientists in the United States meet regularly and often,” he said.
By shining a light on the various scientific breakthroughs that are being accomplished across a plethora of different fields — which include medicine and health, energy and water, food and agriculture, information technology and cyber security, as well as aerospace and defense — the Indo-U.S. Brain trust intends to exemplify the genuine partnership between Indian and American luminaries by highlighting their discoveries and how they are making the world at large a better place, according to the founders.
(Asif Ismail contributed to this report.)