Dr. Ralf Heckner, Ambassador of Switzerland to India called on Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Science & Technology; Minister of State (Independent Charge) Earth Sciences; MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh in New Delhi today. The Minister and the Ambassador discussed possibilities for extensive collaboration in fields like healthcare, telemedicine and technological advancements.

The Ambassador showed great interest in India’s growth trajectory. He said that the pace and speed with which India is growing in the field of innovation is very impressive. India’s rapid jump in the Global Innovation Index rankings is a testimony to this. India and Switzerland, both have great potential for lots of convergence in the innovation space, he added.

Dr. Jitendra Singh noted that since India and Switzerland traditionally share cordial mutually trusted relations, it is easy for both the countries to engage with each other on ground of comfort already existing. With regard to the Cooperation in Science and Technology, an Inter-Governmental Bilateral Agreement between India and Switzerland was signed during the State visit of Swiss President to India in 2003.

Dr. Jitendra Singh mentioned that there is a need to create an Indo-Swiss innovation platform and joint startup collaboration not only for research institutions but including businesses and academia as well. He added that synergy between Industry and academia is a prerequisite for long term sustainability.

The Minister said that the StartUp movement is being given very high priority by the government led by the Honourable Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi and the result is that from just 350 start-ups we have more than 90,000 and we have more than 100 unicorns.

Noting that six Joint Committee meeting on S&T between two countries have been taken place on reviewing all the activities and joint cooperation programs, Dr. Jitendra Singh added that the Department of Biotechnology (DBT) in Ministry of Science & Technology has through “Mission COVID Suraksha”, delivered four vaccines, augmented the manufacturing of Covaxin, and created necessary infrastructure for smooth development of future vaccines, so that our country is pandemic ready. He welcomed efforts by more and more Swiss businesses to invest in research and other investments in India.

Dr. Jitendra Singh said that India is engaged with Switzerland for Securing Technology for Future such as Cyber- Physical Systems, Electric Mobility, Quantum Science & Technology, Clean Fuels, etc. Also, we are working so that the outcomes of Science should be of relevance to our society, science with a human face, the Minister added.

On this occasion, Dr. Jitendra Singh recalled his visit to Davos in 2018 when Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi addressed the World Economic Forum world conference. The Union Minister recalled the warm hospitality offered by the people of Switzerland.

The Minister expressed happiness that both sides are engaged to augment and furthering of the Bilateral Cooperation and on creating opportunities for S&T cooperation between the two countries.

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