Joint Declaration on Sweden-India Innovation Partnership for a Sustainable Future

The governments of Sweden and India hereby agree to deepen our collaboration in the field of innovation through a strategic innovation partnership. The innovation partnership represents a step-change in India-Sweden science and innovation collaboration, underpinning our mutual commitment to drive prosperity and address global challenges such as climate change and sustainable development through innovation.

The partnership 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. The partnership will cover co-operation across a wide spectrum, from the creation of effective innovation systems to the commercialisation of new technologies. The partnership is based on the principles of co-funding, co-development and co-creation, towards mutual benefits, making full use of our complementary strengths. The partnership will deepen the  long and fruitful relations between our countries, building upon the Joint Statement between our Prime Ministers issued in Mumbai 2016 and the Joint Action Plan agreed in Stockholm in 2018. Existing MoUs in areas such as science and technology, sustainable urban development, biotechnology, energy, environment, space, and health and disease prevention will play an encompassing role in the partnership.

Sweden and India will explore ways to increase the impact of our bilateral cooperation in innovation, science and technology, at multiple levels and by engaging stakeholders from government, agencies, industry, enterprises and academia. We also agree to encourage innovation funding agencies and industry to develop joint programmes and calls, in dialogue with relevant stakeholders. The Ministry of Enterprise and Innovation in Sweden, together with the Ministry of Science and Technology in India (Department of Science and Technology and Department of Biotechnology) are the leading partners for developing collaboration within the partnership, including, but not limited to, the following areas and activities:

Areas for collaboration

• Smart cities and transportation including e-mobility
• Smart industry, digitalisation, start-ups and IPR issues
• New materials and advanced manufacturing
• Space and aeronautics
• Circular and bio-based economy including biomaterials
• Health and life sciences including biomedical devices

Activities to deepen our cooperation
Sweden-India Innovation Dialogue

Both countries will explore how to optimize the formal bilateral collaboration mechanisms, to increase synergies between policy areas and enable exchange of experiences and best practice regarding innovation policies and the creation of innovation ecosystems. This will include establishing a Sweden-India Innovation Dialogue with key innovation stakeholders from relevant line ministries and  agencies to provide overall strategic direction for innovation policy development. The dialogue will be supported and advised by an Expert group.

Sweden-India Partnership Development Activities

Both countries will organise Partnership Development Activities (PDA) in the identified areas of collaboration, to enable information dissemination and promote networking of key research agencies, industry players, enterprises, R&D institutions and other funding agencies to identify common challenges and develop joint projects. The PDA will also be a forum for communicating and showcasing the wide range of existing Indo-Swedish innovation activities.

Sweden-India Joint Industrial R&D Projects

Both countries will jointly commit to co-funding for support of bilateral innovation projects. Both countries will launch challenge-based joint industrial R&D and technological innovation projects to  address challenges and opportunities identified by both sides. The projects will be funded on an 'n+n model' that combines funding from government and businesses. The joint funding will increase the impact and concrete deliverables of the innovation collaboration by investing in jointly developed projects, making full use of the comparative strengths of our industries and innovation systems.

Sweden-India Start-up Collaboration

Both countries will explore opportunities for start-up innovation collaboration, to accelerate the transition of research and technology development into commercial propositions. The start-up collaboration can be based out of existing structures in India, and may include the creation of an incubator exchange program for Swedish and Indian start-ups, including incubator managers, as well as offering a forum to facilitate cooperation between incubators and technology clusters. The start- up collaboration may result in the creation of bilateral innovation challenges for start-ups in Sweden and India. Both countries will also encourage activities to bring the innovation clusters in Sweden and India together.

Research and Innovation Infrastructure and Testbeds

Both countries will explore the establishing of mechanisms to facilitate mutual access to research and innovation infrastructure in both countries. This may include collaboration between testbeds and the creation of open innovation arenas, new testbeds and living labs, within the areas for collaboration mentioned above.

The way ahead

The implementation of the innovation partnership will be supported by a roadmap document that will be developed by the Swedish Ministry of Enterprise and Innovation together with the Indian Ministry of Science and Technology (Department of Science and Technology and Department of Biotechnology) in consultation with other line ministries, as appropriate. Meetings will be set up on a regular basis throughout 2018 and onwards, with due involvement and support from both sides.Joint activities will be coordinated between agencies designated by the Indian government and the Swedish government. To ensure a comprehensive approach with maximum impact, relevant institutional and government stakeholders on both sides, as well as business representatives, research institutes and academia will be invited to contribute to these activities, as appropriate.

Progress in the implementation of the partnership will be reported to the Ministers of Swedish Ministry of Enterprise and Innovation and the Indian Ministry of Science and Technology in 2020, for review and assessment.

As part of this partnership, the Swedish Government has tasked Vinnova (the government agency for innovation) with strengthening innovation cooperation between Sweden and India in the field of smart cities. The Government has allocated up to SEK 50 million to Vinnova for this assignment up to the year 2021.