BRICS Young Scientist Forum: Aim, major events, participating countries, 6th YSF and more

India at the 6th BRICS Summit in Fortaleza Brazil (July 2014) came up with the idea of creation of BRICS Young Scientists Forum. The proposal was put forward to develop an engaging and innovative mechanism to network and connect the BRICS youth. The 6th BRICS Young Scientist Forum has been hosted by Department of Science and Technology (DST), in collaboration with National institute of Advanced Studies, Bengaluru (NIAS).

Take a look below to know about this forum, its aim, the latest forum updates and other details below.  But before that take a look at this tweet:

Honoured to deliver Valedictory Address at 6th #BRICS Young Scientists Forum

Excited about 91 projects cleared for cooperation. Focus on health, energy, cyber & innovation @MEAIndia @IndiaDST @DBTIndia #NIAS #bricsindia2021 pic.twitter.com/tHxdAVwCmb

— Sanjay Bhattacharyya (@SecySanjay) September 16, 2021

"I am happy the Forum aims to foster dialogue and has chosen important and relevant themes such as Health care, Energy, Cyber and Innovations, that reflect contemporary realities," said Bhattacharyya.

BRICS Young Scientists Forum: Initiation

1. It was India who called for this innovative mechanism. 
2. The proposal was then endorsed by the BRICS Science, Technology and Innovation Ministers in Brasilia, in March 2015. 
3. The first ever BRICS YSF was held in Bengaluru, India in 2016, under the topics of the genre of Computational Intelligence, Energy Solutions and Affordable Healthcare. 
4. 2016 saw India's first BRICS-Young Innovator Prize. It was aimed at recognizing and rewarding the best innovation projects representing technological innovation and a potential contribution to the science and technology sector for the benefit of the BRICS countries. 
5. In this the winner gets an award money of USD 25000. China hosted the 2nd BRICS YSF in 2017.

BRICS Young Scientists Forum: Timeline 

Take a look at the place and the year of the BRICS Young Scientist Forum conducted since its initiation by India. Follow the table given below for information. 

In the event held last year in Russia the young scientists had a discussion on  BRICS Partnership of Young Scientists and Innovators for the Progress of Science and Innovative growth.

The 4th conclave was called the Brasilia Conclave and the scientists discussed the cooperation required in the field of science. The theme then was 'Fostering BRICS long term Science, Technology and Innovation Cooperation through the Partnership among Academies of Science and Young Scientists.'

At the 3rd BRICS YSF held in 2018, the theme was  ‘Building BRICS Youth Leadership through Science, Technology and Innovation’.

In the words of Narendra Modi, the Prime Minister of India, the country's importance was highlighted with the words "A country with a major percentage of youth has the capability to change not only its own, but the fate of the entire world."

6th BRICS Young Scientist Forum: What was said?

Bhattacharya said during the summit, "I understand 84 project proposals were received under the BRICS Covid call, in which India is a partner in 6 projects out of 12 recommended for support. These projects aim to develop drugs, vaccines, diagnostic kits, genome sequencing, epidemiological studies and application of artificial intelligence for treatment and prevention of the COVID-19 virus. "

He also added, "Specifically, we have agreed to operationalise the BRICS Vaccine Research and Development Center as a virtual network. The Inaugural BRICS Digital Health Summit was also held, a few days ago, which reflected the growing need for innovative solutions to traditional challenges, which were exacerbated during the pandemic."

About energy it was said that the current technologies demanded energy for development. However this led to emissions that contributed towards global warming. Sanjay Bhattacharya asserted that India was leaving no stone unturned to be a responsible member of the global society. He informed that India was on track to meet the 2 degrees compatibility requirement and has already crossed the 100 GW renewable energy milestone. Now India is targeting the 450 GW production of renewable energy by 2030. 

Responding to the COVID 19 crisis, the ministers of all countries joined hands in support of collaborative research in multiple areas. 
The countries also pledged to work for the economic and technological benefits of each other. India also too many initiatives under BRICS partnership. It used iBRICS Network, BRICS Global Research Advanced Infrastructure Network (BRICS GRAIN), BRICS Science, Technology and Innovation Architecture to supoort innovation and research. 

Related| List of BRICS Summits and Host Nations