Collaborative Research: Conference: NSF/TIH PI Meeting and Workshop for Indo-US Research Collaboration

The fields of robotics and cyber-physical systems are economically important to the United States but are expanding all over the world. Nearly every federal agency has a research program covering these areas as they impact the efficiency and productivity of American workers and American businesses in diverse fields from healthcare to manufacturing to agriculture. While American innovation created much of the core inventions of these industries and historically has driven the bulk of their expansion, there is a need for increased collaboration between American scientists and their foreign counterparts to stay abreast of these important fields. In early 2022 the US National Science Foundation (NSF) and Indian Department of Science and Technology (DST) with the Indian Technology Innovation Hubs (TIH) announced an agreement to co-fund collaborative projects in the broad area of robotics and cyber-physical systems. The goals of this proposed NSF/TIH PI meeting and workshop is to discuss the scientific results of these projects and to explore ways to improve foreign collaboration and technology transfer. The 2-day workshop on May 22-23, 2023, in Baltimore will discuss and evaluate the success of the thirty-five individual projects and highlight the potential benefits of remote international collaboration. An Industry Day will be the part of the program to spur innovation and dissemination of ideas into other applications and research fields and to spark commercialization of new developments. The meeting will explore problems and opportunities that these new collaborations developed and will disseminate key ingredients for enhanced success to all participants. The workshop will advise and instruct participants on leveraging collaborations for mutual benefit and will provide professional development for participating students, postdoctoral fellows. and junior faculty. Finally, the workshop will introduce the results of the projects to the institutions of higher education, global industry observers and federal agencies and provide a blueprint for moving forward with new initiatives. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.