The agreements for the collaborations were signed in the presence of the French Ambassador to India, Francois Richier.

The Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, and the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, will have a distinctive French connection in the field of Science and Engineering. Both the institutes signed up for a major research and development collaboration with the French defence, security and aero engine company, Safran, at the French Embassy here on Wednesday.

“The IIT-Delhi will be collaborating with us for developing an advanced machine learning module for use in aerospace related applications,” announced Alain Coutrot, the Deputy Director, Research & Technology.

IIT-Delhi, which was represented by Dr. A. Wali, Managing Director of the Institute’s Foundation for Innovation and Technology Transfer, said the funding coming in from the collaboration will be used in its Electrical Engineering Department.

On the other hand, the company will be involved with IISC, Bangalore to develop an advanced computing platform for use in the next generation avionics applications. “Our involvement with the company will be at two levels, one at the academic- industrial collaboration level where the research and development will be done and the other engagement involves us taking on PhD, and other post-graduate students that are sent by the company,” said Mary Mathew, a faculty member who was representing IISC Bangalore. She added that her institute was hoping that there would be more collaborations of this sort across their departments.

“We have a big presence already in the country, with 2,600 people in the company, we want to further expand our presence. We are also manufacturing more in India now and will continue to do so in keeping with the, “Made in India,” campaign,” said Mr. Stéphane Lauret, who is the CEO of the company's Indian unit.

The agreements for the collaborations were signed in the presence of the French Ambassador to India, Francois Richier.