EU and India to collaborate to promote innovation, start-ups

An EU-India innovation platform that seeks to bring together innovators, start-ups and incubators from both sides for interaction would be launched on October 10, the European Union's envoy in New Delhi said Friday.

Ambassador of the EU to India Tomasz Kozlowski also said that to take the EU-India partnership forward, policy dialogues and engagement must go beyond government level.

"We need to take all stakeholders along, the government, the states, businesses, and NGOs," he said.

Kozlowski said this while addressing a gathering of business representatives from several European and Indian firms, foreign diplomats, among others at an event hosted here by the FICCI on 'India and EU - the creation of projects on clean energy and climate change'.

The envoy also recalled that Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his visit to Brussels in 2016 for the EU-India Summit, had agreed on EU-India clean energy and climate partnership.

Kozlowski mentioned various areas in which the two sides have collaborated or are working to form partnerships.

"The other partnership we are working on is resource efficiency or circular economy... In December 2017, our commissioner with transport (EU's Mobility and Transport Commissioner) met (Union transport minister) Nitin Gadkari," Kozlowski said.

The smart grid, energy storage, e-vehicles, working together on that, he said.

The over-arching objective or over-arching instrument is there and "we are looking forward for science and technology and innovation partnership, Kozlowski said.

"In three weeks time, we will launch another instrument, EU-India innovation platform, looking to bring together, EU and India's start-ups and incubators, an important part of our collaboration," the envoy said.

Later on the sidelines of the event, he told PTI that the platform is slated to be launched on October 10.

The ambassador said the EU-India ties have gone beyond the level of a political declaration, and now both sides are working on having practical solutions in areas of collaboration.

With all stakeholders involved, the envoy said, the partnership "will pay off and it is paying off".

"As a representative of the European Union, I will be proud to tell EU leaders in the near future again, that what we were tasked to do, we have implemented, and going forward with practical collaboration," he added.