India and Switzerland step up innovation partnership with focus on startups, research

Zurich: India and Switzerland are intensifying cooperation in science and technology with the former's scale complementing the latter's innovation to create solutions for citizens and encourage startups.

Towards this, Swissnex-Switzerland's global network for science, education and innovation diplomacy-is connecting innovators, researchers, and entrepreneurs with Indian academia, startups, industry and government, facilitating collaboration, knowledge exchange, and co-creation of solutions to global challenges, said people familiar with the development. Swissnex is supporting startups in exploring, validating, and entering the markets in both India and Switzerland, one of the persons said.

Simultaneously, Switzerland has shown active interest in India's robust digital public infrastructure such as digital identity and payment systems, paving the way for joint technological ventures, ET has learnt. Later this year, the two countries are expected to announce new initiatives in science and technology and the startup ecosystem.


The key pillars of bilateral collaboration include the Indo-Swiss Joint Research Programme (ISJRP). Supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) and India's Department of Science and Technology (DST), this initiative funds multi-year joint research projects and reciprocal researcher mobility. Recent efforts have heavily targeted cutting-edge geoscience, glaciology, climate change, and mountain hazards.

In healthcare and life sciences, major agencies including India's Department of Biotechnology (DBT) and the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) are partnering with SNSF to tackle global health challenges with a specific focus on "One Health" and accelerating drug development research.

The bilateral startup and innovation exchange will have programmes such as the Academia-Industry Training (AIT) India, organised by the Leading House ZHAW and supported by Swissnex India, to help emerging entrepreneurs and scientists scale their innovations internationally through specialised bootcamps and cross-border ecosystem visits.

(The reporter is in Switzerland on an invitation from the Swiss govt)