Under Multilateral and Regional Cooperation, IC Division has been mandated to foster India's regional and multilateral engagements and partnerships in the fields of Science and Technology. These engagements are done through cooperation frameworks at inter-governmental level with a view to make positive contributions for gainful consequences and spin offs for:

• Enlarging India's pursuit of influence in global arena/platforms and mainstreaming Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) into international diplomacy and foreign relations;
• Showcasing and projecting India's scientific excellence in the global research landscape;
• Leveraging foreign alliances and partnerships to accelerate key priorities and programs devoted to strengthening India's national science and technology (S&T)/ Research and Development (R&D) competencies-capabilities-access to technologies in synergies with national flagship programs.

Some of the major functions of IC Division related to forging India's regional and multilateral partnerships in Science, Technology and Innovation being performed are as below:

• Negotiation, conclusion, implementation and monitoring of India's international regional and multilateral S&T cooperation agreements/ frameworks and related S&T Program of Cooperation's (India's S&T Cooperation with EU, ASEAN, BRICS, IBSA, SAARC, BIMSTEC, ASEM, EAS);
• India's engagements vis-a-vis S&T aspects of UN and other international organizations (India's S&T engagements with NAM S&T Centre, UNESCO-TWAS-ICTP, UNCSTD, OECD, IOR-ARC, G-20);
• Indian perspectives at S&T Ministerial Multilateral Platforms and its spin offs (Carnegie Group Meetings and its spin offs like GSO-GRI, Science and Technology for Society Forum);
• Facilitation of Indian participation at International Mega Science programs/projects.

Under Thematic Cooperation, IC Division is partnering in the following International programs-

• International Solar Alliance
• Mission Innovation
• International AIDS Vaccine Initiative etc
• The Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO)

The IC Division currently supports three bi-national S&T Centres which are independent entities established under inter-governmental arrangements with France, USA and Germany.

• Indo-French Centre for Promotion of Advanced Research (IFCPAR / CEFIPRA)
• Indo-US Science & Technology Forum (IUSSTF)
• Indo-German Science & Technology Centre (IGSTC)

The IC Division have created 5 dedicated funds namely-

• India -Israel Innovation & Industrial R&D Fund (I4F)
• Australia -India Strategic Research Fund (AISRF)
• Indo-Hungarian Joint Research Fund (IHJRF)
• India-Portuguese Joint Research Fund (IPJRF))
• ASEAN -India S&T Development Fund (AISTDF)

The collaborations in selected areas of mutual interest with different countries/organisations are materialized through various modes of cooperation like:

Contact Building through

• Joint Workshops/ Seminars/Frontiers Symposia/Exhibitions
• Visitation, Fellowships & Internships
• Exploratory visits
• Lectures by Eminent Scientists
• Fielding young researchers scholars to international meets with Peers

Provide Support for

• Joint R&D Projects of mutual interest
• Project mode mobility based exchanges
• Training and Advanced Schools
• Access to Advanced Facilities
• Participation in Mega-science projects

Facilitate and Promote

• Joint R&D Clusters
• Virtual Networked Centres
• Multi - institutional R&D projects
• Catalyzing creation of Joint Ventures

Promote Commercial R&D and Innovation

• Academia - Industry Applied R&D Projects
• PPP for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (GITA Platform)
• Facilitate Technology Development & Tech Transfer
• Annual Technology Summit with partner country