Sweden and India are discussing the contours of an innovation partnership that would support work on innovative products and solutions and also comprise a seed fund for start-ups in select areas.
“We are working on creating a Sweden-India partnership on innovation, which we hope will be announced soon,” Swedish Ambassador Klas Molin said here on Wednesday. Drawing on the strength of the collaboration that exists among some ministries in both the countries, the innovation partnership would lay the foundation for a few concrete, flagship programmes. “They are not quite finalised,” he said when asked to share some salient features of the upcoming initiative.
High-level visits
Negotiations were under way and with some high-level visits on the anvil, the focus might shift to the partnership, he said, estimating the agreement to be in place within a few weeks.
Hinting that the partnership could lead to many more such joint initiatives, the Ambassador, during a media interaction, said the private sector would have a role. “As part of the partnership, we ideally would like to have some seed money from both the governments and private sector that can help finance start-ups in certain sectors,” he said. While the overarching objective is to promote innovation, the work can happen in a number of fields.
CEOs roundtable
Earlier, Mr. Molin participated in a business CEOs roundtable, which was addressed by Telangana’s Industries and IT Secretary Jayesh Ranjan, and opening of an exhibition organised as part of Swedish Design Weeks in the city.
On the presence of Swedish companies in Telangana, he said there were around 25 of them and their number was growing. Seeking to attribute the upward trend to the positive business climate and policies of the State government, he said Swedish home furnishings major IKEA’s first store in India, in Hyderabad, would open in a few months.
There were nearly 200 Swedish companies countrywide – some of them have been in India for several decades – together providing direct employment to over a million people.
