MELBOURNE: Australia on Tuesday announced 13 innovative projects with India that will support new cutting-edge collaborative research partnerships between universities, professional bodies and private sector organizations of the two countries.

The latest initiatives will be supported through Australia-India Council (AIC) grants programme, said Australian foreign minister Julie Bishop .

"AIC's grants, totaling over 565,000 Australian dollars will support new partnerships between Australian and Indian universities, professional bodies, private sector organizations and arts communities in areas of strong mutual interest and where the bilateral relationship has the greatest capacity to grow," Bishop said.

"This year's programme will fund cutting-edge collaborative research in the mapping of salt affected land and water resources; the sharing of Australia's experience in implementing food standards, managing major sporting events and planning for sustainable urban transport links; and a new teacher education exchange program," she said.

The grants were extended to Opera Australia for "Shane Warne The Musical" tour of India project, Sharing Stories Foundation for installation in India of "Song for Country", a multimedia exhibition celebrating Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island culture.

Other projects which would be supported by AIC are Australia India Institute 's Australia India Public Sector Reform Seminar, Griffith University's collaborative study on Food Safety and Standards in India with Indian Agricultural Research Institute to help improve food value chains in India.

University of Sydney's national workshop of extending the value of data on novel analysis for soil and water resources which would be in collaboration with Indian Institute of Technology - Kharagpur. In the area of art and culture, AIC will support AusHeritage in revitalizing Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar museum with Australian conservation expertise.