India

Within the framework of the agreement between Belgium and India on cooperation in the field of research and development, the second 'Joint Commission' meeting, held in Delhi on April 13th, 2011, decided to organise joint calls for proposals for networking activities. 

On August 20, 2012 BELSPO launched the first call. That call for networking projects was limited to current projects funded within the SSD research programme, the IUAP's and activities of the Federal Scientific Institutions (FSI). 

On December 17, 2013 BELSPO launched together with DST (Dpt for Science and Technonolgy, India) a second call for proposals for networking activities. This call was limited like the precedent call to projects already funded, in particular within the BRAIN, STEREO, IAP research programmes, and ESA activities or activities of the Federal Scientific Institutions (FSI).
Five new networking projects are funded by BELSPO and DST.  

On 29th September 2015 the 4th meeting of the Mixed Commission for research and technology took place in Delhi;  the meeting was organised in the light of  the Mixed Commission meeting for economic cooperation.
In the meeting it was decided to launch a 3rd joint call for networking (by topping up) . 

In 2016 an assesment was made of the networking projects from the call 2012. We concluded that with limited resources for 'networking' the following results were achieved:

• a consideralbe scientific return via a high number of co-puclications
• good exchange of knowledge, of expertiences and of scientific data , as well as a quite high number of exchanges of experts, be it young researchers our senioir promotors
• selection, via conferences or workshops in Belgium or in India, of some post-doctoral fellowships for further cooperation among the institutes
• broadened networking with other Belgian or Indian teams working in the same scientific field

On 30 March 2016 the Prime Ministers of both countries have virtually started , in Brussels, the activity of the ARIES 3.6 optical telescope installed in the mountains of Nevasthal. 
Science Connection n° 52 in Dutch or French  (publication June-July 2016 - p. 40-43)

Early 2017 the 'Time allocation Committee' was set up with Belgian and Indian astronomers to manage the 7% observation time for the Belgian astronomy community (agreement for 5 years). After a test period, the Belgian and other observation have started on 2nd April 2017. 
Information about the 'Early Science Cycle -2017A 
(Belgian projects: P17,P37,P57)

On 20th May 2017 BELSPO and NRF have jointly launched a third call for networking proposals. The call was limited, as former ones, to projects that are already funded in the framework of the programmes BRAIN-be, STEREO, IUAP, and ESA activities or activities of the Federal Scientific Institutes (FSI).
Six new networks are funded by BELSPO and NRF (2018-2020). 

On 7th June 2017 a Indian delegation, led by DST's Secretary Professor Sharma , has visited the Royal Belgian Institute for Natural Sciences (RBINS). A first part included presentations focussed on research related to inland water and marine monitoring and management, including topics as mathematic modelling for sediment transport and ocean currents. The second part of the visit was devoted to a comprehensive visit of the museum. 

Following the 5th Meeting of the Joint Committee on Cooperation in Science and Technology, held online on 18th January 2021, the 4th joint call for proposals for networking activities was jointly launched on 25th June 2021 by the Belgian Science Policy Office (BELSPO) and by the Indian Department of Science and Technology (DST), in concertation with DBT (the Indian Department for Biotechnology).  The call was focused on the following areas: space, marine sciences and biotechnology, life sciences with a focus on micro-organisms, geology and cybersecurity. As a result of the call, 8 new networks are funded by BELSPO and DST/DBT. The projects (BL/../IN17 - BL/../IN24) run from April 2022 until March 2025.