Jitendra Singh meets Italy's research minister in Rome, Trieste labs next

Union Minister of State Jitendra Singh met Italy’s Minister of University and Research, Anna Maria Bernini, in Rome on November 12, and the two agreed to keep close contact on putting their scientific research agreement to work. The meeting took place at the second India-Italy Science and Innovation Dialogue, which is part of the India-Italy Science and Technology Dialogue 2026.

Singh, who holds independent charge of the Ministries of Science and Technology and Earth Sciences, left New Delhi on November 11 for a visit that runs to November 15. Today, November 13, the delegation is due in Trieste, in north-eastern Italy, to see three research centres.

What was agreed in Rome

According to reports of the meeting, the two ministers stressed practical cooperation between the science and innovation ecosystems of the two countries, with long-term benefit for both. They agreed to stay in close dialogue on carrying out the Scientific Research Cooperation MoU that India and Italy signed on April 11, 2025.

The Italy-India Joint Committee is working on turning that framework into specific joint projects. The one date given is for a joint call for research proposals, planned to open in 2027, which would let Indian and Italian research teams apply together. No funding figure, list of research themes or eligibility rules has been published yet, so what the call will cover is not known.

The dialogue also brought together researchers, technology incubators and institutions from both sides to compare priorities. The visit is meant to turn the Special Strategic Partnership, agreed during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Italy in May 2026, into what one account of the trip called concrete scientific collaborations.

Who is on the delegation

The Indian side is led by Singh and includes Ambassador Vani Rao and Deputy Chief of Mission Gaurav Gandhi. From the Department of Science and Technology comes Dr Praveenkumar Somasundaram. The four scientists are Dr R Vijay of ARCI, Hyderabad; Prof Sanjay Behari of SCTIMST, Thiruvananthapuram; Prof Venu Gopal Achanta of the National Physical Laboratory, New Delhi; and Prof Vibha Tandon of IICB, Kolkata. The innovation ecosystem is represented by Prof Kasturi Saha of the Qmet Tech Foundation at IIT Bombay, Dr Ashutosh Agnihotri of the incubator and technology park at IIT Kanpur, and Dr Satya Dash of the IKP Knowledge Park in Hyderabad.

Singh’s first engagement in Rome was an interaction with members of the Italian scientific community and officials of the Indian Embassy, where both sides reaffirmed their long-standing ties. He is also listed for a bilateral meeting with Adolfo Urso, the Italian minister who handles space and aerospace policy. No outcome of that meeting had been published by midday today.

Trieste: synchrotron, theory and biotech

On November 13 the delegation is due to visit three centres: the Elettra synchrotron facility, the Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) and the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB). The purpose, as set out in the programme, is to see what each centre offers and to explore future cooperation.

Elettra is the oldest strand of the partnership. When Italian minister Adolfo Urso visited New Delhi and called on Singh on December 2, 2024, the Press Information Bureau noted that Indian scientists are the second-largest users of Elettra, after Italian scientists. Two beamlines built jointly, XRD2 and XPRESS, have supported research there since 2016. In that meeting the two sides also discussed an Executive Programme of Cooperation for 2025 to 2027 to fund joint projects, an Indo-Italian exchange programme linking startups, universities and policymakers, and cooperation in artificial intelligence, clean energy and quantum technologies.

How the framework was built

The legal base is the Science and Technology Cooperation Agreement signed in New Delhi on November 28, 2003. The April 2025 research MoU added a fresh framework, and the May 2026 Modi visit raised the relationship to a Special Strategic Partnership.

India-Italy science cooperation

1. November 28, 2003Science and Technology Cooperation Agreement signed in New Delhi
2. December 2, 2024Urso calls on Jitendra Singh in Delhi; Elettra, space and startups discussed
3. April 11, 2025Scientific Research Cooperation MoU signed
4. May 2026Special Strategic Partnership agreed during PM Modi's visit to Italy
5. November 12, 2026Second Science and Innovation Dialogue in Rome

Why it matters to researchers

For Indian laboratories and start-ups, the practical gain is a route to joint projects with Italian partners, and continued access to Elettra beamtime, where Indian users already rank second. The 2027 call is the first concrete step that would put money behind the MoU, though its size and subjects are not yet public.

What happens next

Singh is due in Trieste today. On November 14 an event marking World Diabetes Day will be held at the Indian Embassy in Rome, followed by an interaction with the Indian community in Italy. The visit ends on November 15. The terms of the 2027 joint call will be the next detail to watch.