After a scientific conference in Lyon in May 2024, members of the Franco-Indian ILIADE campus (innovation through plants and AI for India and France) met in Reunion from November 6 to 9. This university cooperation project led by the University of Reunion intends to, through a transversal and innovative approach, propose a double degree offer at master's or doctoral level in the fields of natural product biotechnology and AI for health data.
With this unique project, the University of Reunion continues the deployment of its university diplomacy policy in the Indo-Pacific space. This space is a development zone for infectious and metabolic diseases., a key region for preserving global health. This observation in mind, seven French and Indian higher education establishments joined forces in 2022 within the ILIADE cooperation project. This is a real Franco-Indian campus, intended to strengthen academic and scientific cooperation with India around these strategic themes and by structuring France-India bilateral cooperation in this sector. This project is supported by the University of Reunion, in partnership with the universities of Lyon 1, Lyon 2, Poitiers and four Indian partners, the Vellore Institute of Technology, Central Institute of Medecinal & Aromatic Plants, Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research et National Center for Biological Sciences.
Develop research partnerships
ILIADE's main objectives are to offer French students, Indians and, wider, of the Indian Ocean Rim Association and ASEAN, the possibility of following a Franco-Indian course in the field of biosciences and health sciences and of building a multidisciplinary ecosystem which is conducive to the development of innovative partnerships in this strategic sector of biosciences and health. In November, the ILIADE seminar took stock of the first phase of the project, with a budget of 260,000 euros thanks to the participation of the Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs (MY), and established the schedule for the second phase, with a new envelope of 200,000 euros granted by the MEAE.
The second phase of the project
The aim now is to complete the implementation of the master's degree in biotechnology at the Vellore Institute of Technology.. A master’s degree composed of two courses, one specialized in medicinal plants and the other in artificial intelligence applied to biomedical and health data. It also involves developing the doctoral cycle and research projects between partner institutions via student and researcher mobility, paying particular attention to the academy-industry link.. The Franco-Indian consortium won an Erasmus+ project which will finance this mobility for three years.
