Achieving milestones: EU - India clean technology collaboration

Economic growth and sustainable development have been global buzzwords in recent years, and over the last five years EU and India have joined hands in contributing to the Indian and European sustainable development agenda. This has happened on the ground as well as at the policy level through the European Business and Technology Centre (EBTC), which has a presence across India in New Delhi, Bengaluru, Mumbai and Kolkata.

In Europe, solutions exist to address challenges India is facing, and in that perspective EBTC brought 334 delegates from 24 EU Member States with 26 missions to India. However, several market barriers when transferring technology to India deter European providers. Some of these include varying technical standards; lack of access to finance; cross-cultural business issues; detailed market intelligence; securing pilots and establishing demonstration projects, and most importantly, adapting technologies to suit the Indian specific requirement.

Director of EBTC, Mr. Poul V Jensen comments that “It is imperative that EU and India take stronger strides in removing barriers to clean technology collaborations. EBTC has been providing customised services that aid in breaking down some of these barriers by reinforcing itself as an organisation that enables European businesses and researchers to interact seamlessly with Indian counterparts as well as keeping policy makers informed of challenges faced in such collaborations. The fruits of EBTC’s efforts can be seen in the fact that 23 cooperation agreements have been facilitated between companies, in a number of cleantech areas, including those of energy efficiency software, floating solar platforms and real-time water quality monitoring. Interest in mutually beneficial technology and solutions continues to gather pace, and EBTC expects to see the still nascent cleantech sector growing at a promising pace.”

During this year, EBTC became the lead coordinator of the Enterprise Europe Network India – the largest technology platform opening doors which connect SME’s in India and Europe. Furthermore, With the advent of the European Technology Experience Centre (ETEC), European solutions can be showcased and demonstrated in India virtually as well as physically. Interested Indian parties need not leave the country to experience technologies and engage with providers. Last but not least, the online Cleantech Platform currently under construction will take cross-border B2B, R2B, and R2R activities to another level.