27-Oct-2022: Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh says, Indo-Swedish companies must support start-ups from both sides, and undertake collaborative research and human resource exchange

Union Minister for Science & Technology, Dr Jitendra Singh said, Indo-Swedish companies must support start-ups from both sides, and undertake collaborative research and human resource exchange.

Addressing the 9th edition of the India- Sweden Innovation Day through virtual mode, Dr Jitendra Singh said, collaborative research and joint StartUps ecosystem will help build a shared future by harnessing the power of science, technology and innovation for social good.

Referring to the joint projects having significant potential to improve public health, nursing or care in India and Sweden, Dr Jitendra Singh informed that in 2020, the Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Government of India, and Vinnova, Government of Sweden announced grant funding to implement projects aimed at producing new solutions which, aided by artificial intelligence (AI), have significant potential to improve public health.

Dr Jitendra Singh recalled that in April 2019, India and Sweden announced the India-Sweden Collaborative Industrial Research & Development Programme. The Joint programme co-funded by the Indian Department of Science & Technology (DST) and Sweden’s Innovation Agency – Vinnova brings together the world class excellence of Sweden and India to address challenges in the area of Smart Cities and Clean Technologies and Digitalization / Internet of Things (IoT).

The Minister was also happy to note that Swedish Energy Agency earmarked an additional 25 million over 4 years for research and innovation collaboration with India.

Dr Jitendra Singh fondly remembered that in April 2018, during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Sweden, India agreed to deepen the collaboration through the Joint Declaration on Innovation Partnership for a Sustainable Future. He said, the partnership aims to increase the impact of bilateral cooperation in innovation, science and technology and it sets the framework for future cooperation to jointly tackle societal challenges including innovation-driven challenges on cross-sectoral issues with multi-stakeholder/agency participation from both countries.

Dr Jitendra Singh underlined that the partnership covers several areas, including smart cities, transportation and eMobility, energy, clean technologies, new materials, space, circular and bio-based economy, and health and life sciences. The India-Sweden Innovation Partnership bridges institutions, R&D intensive industries and creative entrepreneurs to address global challenges in line with the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Dr Jitendra Singh shared his thoughts with the distinguished delegates and said, India has been progressing well in recent years in terms of its overall performance and outcome in science and technology and it has attained the 3rd position globally in terms of the number of publications. India’s growth rate of publications in SCI journals is nearly 14% against the global average of 4% and India has attained the 10th spot in the number of patents filed, the Minister added.

In conclusion, Dr Jitendra Singh said, the bilateral diplomatic relations have flourished on the back of our like-mindedness and commitment to fair trade and globalization and added that Innovation cooperation is the fastest growing element in the bilateral relationship between India and Sweden.

Dr. Jitendra Singh thanked Ms. Ebba Busch, Swedish Deputy Prime Minister of Sweden and Minister for Business and Energy for her participation and also extended his sincere thanks to Indian Embassy in Sweden, the Swedish Government Agency for Innovation Systems (Vinnova), the Swedish Foundation for International Cooperation in Research and Higher Education, guest speakers, industry partners and participants to make this even successful.

Dr. Fredrik Hörstedt, Head of Division for International Collaboration, Vinnova, Mr. Ulf Borbos, International Project Manager, SISP Swedish Incubators and Science Parks, Dr. Andreas Göthenberg, Executive Director of STINT, Dr. Jyoti Sharma, Scientist F, International Cooperation Division, Department of Science and Technology, Government of India, and Dr. Sapna Poti, Director, Strategic Alliances Division, Office of the Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India participated in the India Sweden Innovation Day event.

1-Jun-2022: India and Sweden Host Industry Transition Dialogue in Stockholm

India and Sweden hosted the Industry Transition Dialogue today in Stockholm, as a part of their joint initiative i.e. Leadership for Industry Transition (LeadIT). The LeadIT initiative lays specific focus on hard to abate sectors that are key stakeholders in the global climate action and require specific interventions.

This high level of dialogue has contributed to the UN Conference ‘Stockholm+50’: a healthy planet for the prosperity of all –our responsibility, our opportunity’, taking place on 2 and 3 June 2022 and set the agenda for COP27.

The event was opened by address from Union Minister of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, India, Shri Bhupender Yadav and Minister for Climate and the Environment, Sweden, Ms. Annika Strandhäll.

In the opening address the Union Minister congratulated the world for the upcoming 50th anniversary of United Nations Conference on the Human Environment that took place in 1972 and put environmental issues at the forefront of the international concerns. He emphasized that it is the time to celebrate 50 years of collaborative action, at the same time to introspect on what has been achieved and what more is yet to be done. “The developing world needs not just an industrial ‘transition’, but an industrial renaissance – a flowering of industries that will create jobs and prosperity along with a clean environment. The developed nations, with their historical experiences, must take lead in the global transition towards net-zero & low carbon industry.”, the minister stated.

Japan and South Africa, the latest members of the initiative were welcomed. This extends the total membership of LeadIT to 37 including countries and companies together. The minister also updated the audience about the progress made under the initiative that includes the sectoral road mapping, workshops and industrial field visits to facilitate knowledge sharing and combined efforts.

During the event, India chaired the roundtable dialogues on Priorities for implementation 2022-23. The need for speed and scale in climate action was echoed by all the speakers. The countries and companies shared their initiatives, success stories and plans for future. Some very specific and valuable insights were shared by the participants. It was felt that the domestic actions if implemented and communicated well can be valuable inspiration at the international level. The efforts and exchanges through such platforms have the potential to lead the world in right direction. The commitments and pledges now must translate into action in mitigation and adaptation that rides on climate finance and technology transfer.

26-Oct-2021: Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh says, Indo-Swedish cooperation in Energy Sector will go a long way in achieving the ultimate goal of fossil fuel free economy

Addressing the India-Sweden Innovation meet today, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Science & Technology; Minister of State (Independent Charge) Earth Sciences; MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh said that India and Sweden cooperation in Energy Sector will go a long way in achieving the ultimate goal of fossil fuel free economy.

Delivering the Inaugural Address at the 8th India-Sweden Innovation Day meet on the theme ‘Accelerating India Sweden Green Transition’, Dr Jitendra Singh said, cooperation in the energy sector was identified as an important area during the visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Stockholm in April 2018, as India is looking for technology solutions for clean energy. The Minister noted with satisfaction that the Department of Science & Technology and the Swedish Energy Agency have worked out and launched a Call for Industrial R&D proposals in this sector and received 20 joint industry led proposals which are in an advanced stage of consideration and we may implement shortlisted projects soon.

Dr Jitendra Singh informed that following the visit of Prime Minister Modi, the scientific cooperation was reviewed at official level by the Joint Committee held on 2 May 2019 and they had identified several important themes for S&T cooperation such as Smart Cities, Clean Technologies, Digitalization including Internet of Things, Machine Learning, Circular economy etc. and both Department of Science and Technology and Swedish Ministry of Enterprise and Innovation are implementing. The Joint Call was announced by Prime Ministers of both countries during their bilateral meeting on 5th March 2021, which resulted in 22 projects and three joint projects have been recommended from both sides for funding. 

Dr Jitendra Singh noted with satisfaction a new joint call on Circular economy including the themes such as Health Science and Waste to Wealth by the Department of Science and Technology, Department of Biotechnology and Swedish Vinnova during 2021-2022. He said, the ICMR India and Swedish FORTE have also agreed to launch the new call in 2021-2022 on broad themes viz., Public health, prevention, and health promotion Organization and provision of care for the elderly. In addition, The Department of Bio Technology is already engaged with Swedish Partners on Incubator Connect, Digital Health Care and Global Bio India programmes, enhancing the partnerships in the field of Bio Technology, the Minister added.

Congratulating Indian and Swedish scientists for successful 8 years of the India-Sweden Innovation Day celebrations, Dr Jitendra Singh said, the Science and Technology cooperation between two countries forms the important component of the bilateral cooperation, which was initiated through the Indo-Swiss Inter-Governmental Agreement signed at Stockholm on 9th December 2005. This agreement has provisions for cooperation through. It includes exchange of scientists, graduate students, research workers, technologists, other specialists and scholars among others. 

In his address, Ibrahim Baylan, Swedish Minister for Business, Industry and Innovation said that Indo-Swedish cooperation continued even during the challenging times of COVID pandemic. He said, that the number of scientific collaborations has increased since 2018 and called for finding new solutions, new resilience for developing a sustainable society. He said, Sweden is working hard on becoming fossil fuel free economy and developing new climate neutral technology products.

Tanmaya Lal, Ambassador of India to Sweden and Latvia, Ambassador Klas Molin, Swedish Ambassador to India, Dr. Renu Swarup, Secretary, Dept of Science & Technology & Dept of Biotechnology , Government of India, Ms. Darja Isaksson, Director General, Vinnova, Mr. Sanjoo Malhotra CEO India Unlimited & Mr. Robin Sukhia, Secretary General and President Sweden-India Business Council and senior officials from both the sides took part in the conference.

2-Dec-2020: Dr Harsh Vardhan chairs inaugural session of the India Sweden Healthcare Innovation Centre - Annual Conference

Dr Harsh Vardhan, Union Minister of Health & Family Welfare today chaired the inaugural session of the annual conference of the India Sweden Healthcare Innovation Centre – ‘health talks,’ under Sweden India Nobel memorial week.

Reminding everyone that the cooperation in the field of health between the two countries has been long standing for which the 10th year celebration took place in 2019 with much adulation, the Minister said, “We all remember the event that saw the inauguration of the India-Sweden Healthcare Innovation Centre by King of Sweden Gustaf the 16th in 2019.”

Expressing his pleasure that the cooperation between the two countries has bloomed into a multi-stakeholder relationship, Dr. Harsh Vardhan noted “The inclusion of policy makers, academia and industry will play a key role in innovation and I look forward to the synergies being created in the process.”

Speaking on COVID, Dr. Harsh Vardhan said, “No conversation on healthcare today is complete without underlining the massive challenge that the planet has faced in the last ten months on account of the COVID19 pandemic. However, each challenge also has a silver lining to it. The global pandemic has taught us that our shared challenges also require shared responsibilities. Collaborations and synergies have become the order of the day. We can no longer work in silos. We have to create global synergies like never before.”

He continued in this regard, “It is on the same lines that our two honourable Prime Ministers have expressed the desire to enhance cooperation between the two nations. During this time, I too had the opportunity to deliberate with the Swedish Health Minister.” He added that he looked forward to hearing about the strategic plans emerging from the Joint Working Group set-up under the MoU which is going to meet next week, to further increase health cooperation between the two countries.

Applauding the positive outcomes resulting from the bilateral MoU, Dr. Harsh Vardhan said, “The India Sweden Healthcare Innovation Centre is also in the process of setting up a Centre of Excellence at AIIMS Jodhpur on Cancer Care. This will help patients to better understand and manage their disease, the treatment plan and the prognosis. It will also help them to manage complex medication regimes, ensure treatment compliance and minimize complications resulting in improving quality of life for patients and caregivers.”

Dr. Harsh Vardhan was also invited to witness the announcement of the winners of the first Innovation Challenge of the Centre; as many as 8 problem statements across therapy areas including NCDs and COVID19 were identified and startups across India and Sweden were invited to apply. The challenge warranted the inclusion of Digital Tools, Med-Tech, Tele-Medicine, and Artificial Intelligence backed solutions which would improve the efficiency of healthcare systems. The Innovation Challenge received an overwhelming response of 468 applications which then went through a rigorous evaluation process for identification of 14 winners.

Congratulating the winners, Dr. Harsh Vardhan said, “In India we have a lot of Innovation, the challenge is to scale these ideas, and we support the vision of the Centre towards supporting the scale up within and outside India.” He expressed confidence that the technological and knowledge partners associated with this collaboration and the Institutes will together guide these entrepreneurs to success.

16-Aug-2017: Cabinet approves MoU between India and Sweden on IPRs

The Union Cabinet has given its approval to the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between India and Sweden on cooperation in the field of Intellectual Property (IPRs).

The MoU establishes a wide ranging and flexible mechanism through which both countries can exchange best practices and work together on training programs and technical exchanges to raise awareness on IPRs and better protect intellectual property rights.

Impact:
The MoU will enable India to exchange experiences in the innovation and IP ecosystems that will substantially benefit entrepreneurs, investors and businesses on both sides. The exchange of best practices between the two countries will lead to improved protection and awareness about India's range of Intellectual creations which are as diverse as its-people. It will be a landmark step forward in India's journey towards becoming a major player in global Innovation and will further the objectives of National IPR Policy, 2016.

Features:
A Joint Coordination Committee (JCC) with members from both sides will be formed to decide cooperation activities to be taken under the MoU in following areas:

1. Exchange of best practices, experiences and knowledge on IP awareness among the public, businesses and educational institutions of both countries;
2. Collaboration in training programmes, exchange of experts, technical exchanges and outreach activities;
3. Exchange and dissemination of best practices, experiences and knowledge on IP with the industry, universities, R & D organisations and Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) through participation in programs and events in the matter, organized singly or jointly by the Parties;
4. Exchange of information and best practices for disposal of applications for patents, trademarks, industrial designs, copyrights and Geographical Indications, as also the protection, enforcement and use of IP rights;
5. Cooperation in the development of automation and implementation of modernization projects, new documentation and information systems in IP and procedures for management of IP;
6. Cooperation to understand how Traditional Knowledge is protected; and the exchange of best practices, including traditional knowledge related databases and awareness raising of existing IP systems;
7. Exchange of information and best practices regarding Intellectual Property law infringements in the digital environment, especially regarding Copyright issues; and
8. Other cooperation activities as may he decided by the Parties with mutual understanding.