Inspirational Symposium on 'Energy Innovations' successfully concluded at Welingkar Institute

Principal. L. N. Welingkar Institute of Management Development & Research (WeSchool) hosted the Inspirational Symposium on Energy Innovations. WeSchool is the academic partner for the initiative along with Mälardalen University, Sweden. WeSchool has been working with the university for the past 7 years and has signed a MoU to encourage collaborative learning and research. The symposium is part of the India-Sweden Innovations´ Accelerator (ISIA) supported by Swedish Energy Agency which is a bilateral program that contributes to facilitating technology transfer and market entrance in India for Swedish innovative companies, focusing on scaling and adapting their technologies to the local context. This initiative is supported by Business Sweden, Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) – Green Business Centre, Ministry of New and Renewable Energy as well as Bureau of Energy Efficiency (Govt of India). India and Sweden share a common objective of the need for innovation, to build domestic competitiveness, as well as to respond to the needs of growing demands in an energy-constrained world.

The keynote address was delivered by Ms Fredrika Ornbrant, Consul General, Consulate General of Sweden followed by Mr Srikant Illuri, Executive Director, Business Sweden who outlined the various challenges facing the world due to excessive energy consumption. They focused on the need for shift in global thinking as well as technology that will drive change. With Sweden having the largest per capita consumption of energy, it has successfully reduced carbon emission and its green house effect has also gone down by 20% while the economy has grown by 60%.

The relationship between India and Sweden has been driven by economic interest with bilateral trade accounting to over US$2.8 billion in 2011-2012. Environmental technology is one of the many areas recognised for cooperation. This symposium is the beginning of a new journey for a successful Indo-Swedish collaboration for energy innovation. The discussion at the symposium revolved around the possibilities and challenges involved in developing renewable energy systems and clean technology for India. This initiative will create a platform for innovative Swedish companies to connect with their respective Indian counterparts to explore the possibility of creating sustainable energy systems suitable for Indian market. This will also be an opportunity for strengthening the bi-lateral trade relationship between India and Sweden by bringing innovative solutions from Swedish companies to the Indian market and taking Indian grass root solutions to the Swedish market.

Talking on the occasion, Prof. Dr Uday Salunkhe, Group Director, WeSchool said, “The Accelerator program is a great collaboration that will give us the right platform, resources and tools required to create innovative renewable and clean technology solutions to suffice our growing energy needs. The recent UN report on climate change is indeed alarming with severe environmental changes making the planet vulnerable. WeSchool therefore tries to bring all the stakeholders together for a larger goal of societal good. For us the triple bottom line - profit, people and planet is very important and focus on protection of environment, issues of sustainability and carbon credits are uppermost on our mind. Let us leverage each other’s strength and create the synergy for more efficient energy consumption and environmental sustainability.”

 “Also, this will be a great chance for WeSchool students to gain practical experience by working with Swedish companies and helping them develop real-life business models and marketing strategies suitable for the Indian subcontinent” he added.