India, Sweden collaborate for a sustainable future through innovative projects | So Good News

The 9th annual India Sweden Innovation Day 2022 was successfully concluded on 27 October. The one-day event was organized in collaboration with the Embassy of India in Sweden and Latvia, Sweden-India Business Council (SIBC) and Confederation of Indian Industry (CII). .

The event was a huge success with over 1,000 participants from around the world. About 350 distinguished delegates attended Innovation Day 2022 in person, and more than 700 marked their presence online.

The main feature of the event was the principles of partnership implementation, joint financing, joint development, joint creation for mutual benefit and full use of complementary strengths.

India’s 9th Sweden Innovation Day also included comprehensive sessions with relevant stakeholders in areas such as sustainable urban development and safe transport, life sciences, energy, environment, health, science and technology.

As Industry 4.0 is at the forefront of driving sustainable industrial growth across the globe, the event placed great emphasis on exploring its potential in the development and adoption of smart technologies for increased efficiency and socio-environmental sustainability.

The keynote speakers at the inauguration were Tanmaya Lal, Ambassador of India to Sweden; Volvo Group CEO Martin Lundstedt; Jitendra Singh, Minister of Science and Technology of India; Peter Karlsson Founder and CEO, Northvolt; Anna Kinberg Batra, Chairman, Swedish Space Corporation and Chief Executive Advisor, Sweden-India Business Council and Swedish Ambassador to India, Jan Tesleff.

Speaking on the occasion, Sweden’s new Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Energy, Business and Industry, Ebba Bush said, “It is an honor to inaugurate the 9th India-Sweden Innovation Day and as the Minister of Energy, Business and Industry. We look forward to future discussions on how to deepen the cooperation between our countries. The relationship between India and Sweden is stronger than ever and the innovative partnership has truly become the foundation of our bilateral cooperation. This cooperation is aimed at solving big problems in areas such as green wind. transition, clean energy, health and transport’.

“India has risen rapidly from 81st to 40th place in the Global Innovation Index in just a few years. Swedish companies have also employed more than 200,000 people directly and 2.2 million indirectly in India for many decades. Swedish companies continue to invest and partner with the Indian research and innovation ecosystem,” Bush added.

Commenting on strengthening ties between the two countries, Indian Ambassador to Sweden and Latvia Tanmaya Lal said, “Innovation is key not only to growth and stability but also to managing global challenges like the climate change pandemic. Sweden is the leader. Innovation and sustainability and India is also rapidly rising in global innovation rankings. India is a hotbed of engineering, research and development and entrepreneurial talent. The scale and speed of innovative technology solutions for sustainable development coming out of India today is tremendous. Collaboration opportunities. In this context, this annual series of days brought together researchers, businesses and investors, and government agencies. We thank all participants for joining this discussion and accelerating an inclusive green transition for our collective sustainable future.

The India-Sweden Association not only helps to analyze and develop technologies and solutions that have a lasting impact on humanity, but also aims to improve health and safety in transportation, safety and quality of life through acceleration, innovation and cross-country solutions. the power of technology.

Jitendra Singh, Minister of Science and Technology said, “The continuation of this event for the last 8 years is a testament to the fruitful partnership between India and Sweden. Both the governments and industries of both countries are developing a technology-driven ecosystem for a common goal. A win-win situation.”

“I am happy that along with the bilateral relationship between India and Sweden, innovation cooperation is the fastest growing element in the world today. In 2018, Indian Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi visited Sweden to deepen cooperation through a joint declaration on innovation partnership. sustainable future This The partnership is aimed at increasing the impact of bilateral cooperation in the field of innovative science and technology.

“The partnership highlights several areas such as smart cities, transport e-mobility energy, green technology, new materials, space, circular economy, bio-waste economy, health and life sciences. The India Sweden innovation partnership brings together institutions, R&D industry and also creates entrepreneurs. To address global challenges in line with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals,” he added.

Speaking on reducing carbon footprints, Sweden-India Business Council Chairman Håkan Kingstedt said, “Accelerating the green transition and taking innovation partnerships to the next level is the most important agenda for this community. We are here today to tie another knot, India and Sweden are promoting their friendship. Also, Sweden is a leader in innovation in Europe. We are in a transition mode to reduce our carbon footprint and it is exciting to see our industries redeveloping all over Sweden. Green steel technology, hydrogen storage, electric battery systems for electric buses, cars and new mobility systems, Sweden is an interesting place to be right now. Finally, I would like to wish both countries in this union.

Commenting on the successful completion of the 9th Innovation Day 2022, Sweden’s Ambassador to India Jan Tesleff said, “The large and powerful political administrations, agencies, corporate sector and academic sector at today’s event were excellent examples of this event. Swedish Indian cooperation. We are moving towards a relationship driven by both parties. We have evaluated our progress and are now exploring opportunities for built-up areas for future collaboration with Indian organizations and the Indian government. Our focus is on innovation and sustainability. The aim of this event is to make predictions on how to bridge alliances and facilitate cooperation between Indian partners and Swedish investors.

Underscoring the importance of sustainable solutions, Volvo Group CEO Martin Lundstedt said: “As innovation in transport is a long-term goal for both Sweden and India, we are moving towards becoming significantly more sustainable. This is important. Infrastructure, transport and logistics are important for the effective implementation of the plan.

“We know that the GDP, per capita and economic growth of a developing society are closely related to these factors. Our goal is to provide long-term solutions to development problems such as more efficient provision of transport and infrastructure logistics. Both countries also agreed. AI, Health, To finance joint innovation projects within Clean Tech, Smart Cities and Safe Mobility,” added Lundstedt.

Commenting on the strengthening ties between India and Sweden, SIBC Sweden-India Business Council President Robin Sukhya said, “The India-Sweden 2022 Innovation Day is a testament to the commitment of both countries to promote sustainable industrial development and green transition through technological advancements. As the world today grapples with climate change, governments and industry need to promote strategic collaboration and adoption of innovation and technology to drive green economic development. India Sweden Innovation Day is a stepping stone to strengthen government and industry in this direction. Cooperation for the Green Transition”.

Elaborating on the importance of going green and strategic events like Sweden Innovation Day in India, Ludwig Lindstrom, Head of Innovation Accelerator, said, “Innovation Accelerator India has been running for 10 years, which shows our commitment to sustainability and green. It is constantly strengthened by the influx of new companies, industries and academic partners joining our initiative. We regularly work with organizations like CII to ensure high impact value to demonstrate our commitment to the green transition and sustainable economic development at the Swedish Business Center. .

Commenting on the Index collaboration, Per-Olof Marklund, CTO, SAAB, Business Area Aeronautics: “The defense industry has been somewhat conservative, but today the technology required in a fighter jet is available on the open market. Defense industry. Collaborating with startups and finding ideas that can be used in the defense industry and applying them to our industry is key to future success. The index itself represents a collaboration with three other companies on a large scale. Different from our industry We have logistics industry, agriculture and defense company.

“On paper, we don’t have much in common, but when you look at the idea you come up with, we have a lot in common and we always get new ideas from each other and strengthen each other in the process,” added Per-Olof Marklund.

The one-day event recognized the importance of various aspects of climate change and both countries outlined concrete measures to accelerate the transition to a green economy by leveraging advanced digital technologies and artificial intelligence.

In addition, both countries have extensively discussed and used technology to develop climate-friendly solutions. The summit also focused on encouraging rapid economic expansion and addressing the residual effects of the pandemic.

This year’s summit provided an opportunity to discuss regional and global issues of mutual concern, including the international situation and responses to challenges to sustainability, as well as climate action, technological development and economic growth.

The event also addressed the need to work hard with innovations, breakthrough technologies, business models and work practices to bring about transformative change to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.

Sanju Malhotra, Chief Executive Officer, India Unlimited, gave more information about the 9th India Innovation Day Sweden 2022 and said, “The 9th Innovation Day brought together prominent industry leaders from various verticals to combine and co-create ideas and solutions related to driving. extensive research on the green transition through digital transformation, green-oriented technologies, supportive government policies and the benefits of a sustainable and green future for the industry”.

The event was themed ‘Accelerating Sweden’s Green Transition in India’, where both countries discussed the prospects of accelerating the green transition through innovation and harnessing the power of climate-positive technology, next-generation digitalisation. India Sweden Innovation Day 2022 is organized by India Unlimited.

— IANS

san/pgh

(Only the headline and image for this report may have been edited by Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is generated automatically from the syndicated feed.)