The French Institute in India celebrated the first anniversary of the inauguration of Bonjour India with two initiatives, the launch of The Bonjour India Book and the unveiling of six leading programs, on Friday, 16November 2018. The yearlong Bonjour India saw over 320 events in 33 cities over four months concluding in March 2018 with theKnowledge Summit during the visit of the President of France, Emmanuel Macron.
The Bonjour India Book is a recapitulative of the foundations laid during this period. Through a kaleidoscope of voices and images, the book retraces the essence of the Bonjour India moments, along with the testimonies of many of those associated with the French Institute of India during this journey.
Dr Bertrand de Hartingh, Counsellor for Education, Science and Culture at the Embassy of France in India and Director of the French Institute in India said, ‘Bonjour India enabled us to strengthen our partnerships and create new ones with key, innovative Indian partners. It was conceived not as a festival but as a platform and it has gone on bearing fruits in innovation, creativity and partnership in a wide range of fields. The six programs unveiled today will enable us to go on building on these corner stones’.
These Six programs are as follows:
– The Indo-French Campus is dedicated to student mobility, encouraging more Indians to study and do research in France, where they are fully welcome. Disseminating the hashtag #ChooseFrance throughout all its campaigns across India the programme creates new tools to strengthen student and expert mobility and partnership. In that context, the second edition of the Knowledge Summit will take place in 2019 in France and bring together high-level stakeholders in High education and industry from India and France.
– #Choose French supports French language in India as a passport to better jobs and better lives. It supports French teachers across India through workshops, training and by launching competitions in Maths, sustainable development and through the French Interschool festival.
– Sustainability foments partnerships in sustainable development and social innovation. The programme also highlights the expertise of French research institutes and bring them into contact with Indian institutions, to aggregate their strength in ‘making the planet great again’. Its various focuses include: Sustainability through education; Oceans, coastlines and climates; plant research and development; Artificial intelligence and digitalisation; Smart cities and urban mobility.
– #Culturenomics aims to establish regular and visible exchange between artists, creators, students and cultural professionals. It encourages dialogue based on a simple fact: culture is economy. It creates news opportunities for talented people to get training, develop their creativity. Two labs are at the heart of its action: The Textile Lab for women, a space in Jaipur that brings together stakeholders of creativity and innovation in the domain of textile. And the Indo-French Heritage Lab, an open platform dedicated to use heritage for its potential in terms of economic growth and job creation.
– #The Other Thought is about the meeting between French/francophone and Indian thinking processes, through debates, assistance to editors and translators in order to reflect innovatively on the issues of tomorrow. Artificial Intelligence will be a big focus this year. Two major events create the roadmap for the coming years. India will be the focus country at the Paris Book Fair 2020 and France the focus country at the New Delhi World Book Fair in 2022. As part of the support on translation, this year will see the second Romain Rolland Book Prize for translation. The French Institute will also be setting up ‘Espaces France’ (French Space) in partner institutions, such as universities. These spaces will facilitate access to France be it in terms of mobility, or partnership.
– The Moving Image Industry programme aims to create new opportunities for shootings, festivals, coproduction, training and access to market in the context of the digital revolution. One of the tool will be to organise professional Rendezvous, the next one being coming up soon in Mumbai.
