The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and National Committee on Robotics and Automation recently organized a mission to Israel with the purpose of strengthening Indo-Israeli collaboration on robotics and automation.
During the mission, an Expression of Interest was signed between Chairman of CII National Committee on Robotics Mr. Deep Kapuria and Chairman of the Israeli Robotics Association (IROB), Prof. Zvi Shiller.
The main objective of the EOI is to promote the robotics sector in both India and Israel in order to enhance competitiveness; protect business interest and facilitate market access for products, services and projects.
Since the establishment of diplomatic relations, India and Israel have increased cooperation in military and intelligence ventures. The two countries have also worked to build closer ties in other areas such as nanotechnology, information technology, water technology and biotechnology.
Kapuria has a unique vision for India's partnership with Israel. According to Kapuria, technology and economics are primarily intended to serve the simple man.
In his vision, Kapuria sees a world where the Indian porter who suffers from heat exhaustion and back pain will eventually become a machine operator. This will lead to people using their minds rather than their muscles and eventually lead to a better quality of life.
"India and Israel are natural partners in many respects. We truly believe that this partnership would benefit both nations for the development of robotics and automation field, increased business opportunities and improved quality of life," said Kapuria.
Shiller added: "I see great synergy between the Israeli and Indian robotics communities and believe that the Israeli innovation can tap into the demands of the huge Indian market."
Shiller added that he enjoyed seeing the way his research could help the more unfortunate people of India. However, he expressed his regret over losing Israeli production capabilities to the Far East.
"I dream of the day when robots can be manufactured in Israel in an efficient and inexpensive way rather than sending our products to developing countries," Shiller said.
Tal Reshef manages the Asia-Israel business forum – Business & Culture