The Nordic-India innovation partnership project (NordicsInIndia) in cooperation with the Nordic Centre in India successfully organized an “Indo-Nordic Research and Innovation Dialogue meeting on Sustainable, Circular and Bio-based Economy”. The dialogue meeting aimed to provide a platform for peer-to-peer discussions on innovation, technology, policy amongst experts from governments, academia, and industry from India and the Nordic countries. It aimed to promote Nordic interests through an interaction between Nordic and Indian experts, policymakers, companies, and researchers.
The dialogue meeting led to a meaningful knowledge sharing, exchange of ideas, information and experience, and market entry/expansion for Nordic solutions in India, on various aspects of Sustainable, Circular, and Bio-based Economy.
Prof. Vijay Raghavan, Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India congratulated the project partners and said in his chairpersons’ remarks, “India is going responsibly towards the sustainability and shared partnership is the simple solution”.
Ambassadors from Norway, Denmark, Finland, and Sweden to India participated and encouraged the sustainable partnership. Mr. Hans Jacob Frydenlund, Ambassador of Norway to India stated that, “A circular and bio-based economy can boost economic and social prosperity and I’m glad to see that Norwegian and Indian universities and companies are committing to working together. We look forward to the successful implementation of the results and outcomes from the project”.
Dr. Maan Singh Sidhu, Coordinator of the project NordicsInIndia & Counsellor for Science, Innovation and Higher Education at the Royal Norwegian Embassy presented the project, its aims as well as the activities being planned as part of the project viz. workshops in Pune and Bengaluru.
Dr. Chagun Basha, Office of the Principal Scientific Adviser, Government of India, moderated the session titled ‘Innovation and Industry’ which included 11 industry representatives from the Nordic region and India, who shared their innovations and technologies along with possible areas for future collaborations.
Dr. Sanjeev K. Varshney, Department of Science and Technology, Government of India, moderated the next session titled ‘Research and Innovation’. In this session 12 senior scientists from Nordic countries and India shared their knowledge and expertise in the area of circular and bio-based economies related technologies and innovations.
The project consortium consists of 4 Nordic Embassies (Norway, Denmark, Finland, and Sweden) in India, over 25 partners from industry and university and research institutes. A short report will be published, based on the dialogue meeting. The outcomes from the project will be disseminated in the Nordics and India to target upcoming funding calls for collaboration. The project is funded by the Nordic Council of Ministers.