Indo-German Science & Technology Centre and Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (AvH) signed a Letter of Intent (LoI) for the implementation of IGSTC-Connect Plus on 25th May 2018. LoI was executed and signed by Dr Roshan Paul, Director, IGSTC and Dr Thomas Hesse, Deputy Secretary General, Alexander von Humboldt Foundation.

AvH and DST organizes Indo-German Frontiers of Engineering Symposia (INDOGFOE) which are a series of interdisciplinary, binational conferences. Funding on the German side is provided by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research. The activity brings together outstanding, early-career German and Indian engineers and natural scientists from industries, universities, and other research institutions to introduce their areas of research and technical work, thereby facilitating an interdisciplinary transfer of knowledge and methodology that aims to lead to the development of cooperative networks of young scientists from both countries.

To encourage long term collaboration among participants of INDOGFOE, the AvH Follow-up Programme CONNECT allocates residence allowances for working visits of participants in INDOGFOE partner countries for up to a total of 30 days per conference. To further support working visits for successful CONNECT applicants from India and Germany, this LoI designates and appoints IGSTC to implement, administer and manage the IGSTC-CONNECT Plus Programme. Under this program, IGSTC will support international travel expenses for successful Indian and German CONNECT participants, thus promoting the scientific exchange and networking.