New INDIGO is a consortium of European and Indian Science and Technology organisations involved in promoting research cooperation between Europe and India. It is intended to strengthen the international dimension of the European Research Area (ERA) and to provide a gateway to European S&T for Networking with the Indian S&T platform.

Project partners include the project management organisation of the German Ministry for Education and Research, the German Aerospace Centre DLR, the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), India as well as others from the EU states.

As it has become a prominent country in Asia from economical, political and also the scientific point of view, India has been quoted a strategic target country by the European Commission. Since the signature of the Europe-India Science and Technology Agreement in November 2001 a Joint Action Plan has been drawn up and EU-India summits in S&T are held in order to promote this cooperation.

The aim of New INDIGO is to create a framework for multilateral S&T cooperation on the European level and ultimately provide the most relevant framework to allow the scientific community and institutions of India to access the European Research Area, and the Euro-Indian S&T cooperation to fully benefit from the new networking tools which have been set up.

The main activities of Indigo are the identification of research hotspots and setup of a large database of institutions and research teams. A call for research projects and their evaluation will structurise collaborative research and also provide a mechanism for future programs towards international cooperation between Indian and European science.

In this context, the International office of the German Ministry for Education and Research along with the Department in India are responsible for the set up and implementation of a Networking Pilot Program (NPP) which will oversee the call for projects proposals by the end of 2009.

Within the framework of the New Indigo project the EU-India S&T Cooperation Days, a 3-day event to promote and enhance EU-India Scientific Cooperation will take place between 4 to 6 November in New Delhi with a focus on food, agriculture, fisheries and biotechnology.