By some estimates, Germany is one of the most active research partners for India in science and technology, second only to the US. In recent times, approximately 13% of all Indian publications in international journals have been co-authored with German scientists.

The 5th Indo-German Symposium in Frontiers of Engineering will be hosted in Hyderabad this year during March 14-17. As in previous years, it will be co-organized by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation and the Indian Department of Science and Technology (DST).

Participation in the symposium is limited to the top 30 scientists from both countries and is by invitation only.

Major topics to be discussed in the symposium this year will include clean water, engineering for natural disasters and hazard management, inorganic-organic bio-hybrid materials and power electronics.

From Amrita, Dr. Maneesha Ramesh, Director, Amrita Center for Wireless Networks & Applications is invited to attend the symposium.

The Center is known for its successful deployment of a landslide prediction system based on wireless sensors in the Munnar region of Kerala. The Government of India has invited the Amrita team to deploy such systems in the Himalayas and the North-East areas of the country prone to frequent landslides.

The symposium will facilitate the disbursal of residence allowances to Indian scientists for working visits to German research labs for upto 30 days, to be exclusively funded by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation.

The Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, co-founded by the German Federal Foreign Office and the Federal Ministry of Education and Research, is Germany’s leading academic cooperation institution. The foundation is named after researcher Alexander von Humboldt (1769-1859). Some celebrate his South American journey during 1799-1804 as the real discovery of the continent.

“Nature herself is sublimely eloquent. The stars as they sparkle, fill us with delight and ecstasy. And yet they all move in orbits marked out with mathematical precision,” he is believed to have once remarked.

This world-view also found support in his emphasis on interdisciplinary sciences. He believed that biology, meteorology and geology all determined the existence of specific plants in specific locations in the world.

Today, the foundation named after him has spawned an international network of cooperation of several thousand scientists, including some 50 Nobel Laureates. Amrita is proud to participate.

February 6, 2013
Amritapuri Campus