Sweden sets up science office

The Embassy of Sweden has established a Swedish Office of Science & Technology in New Delhi. It is amongst a series of initiatives to further strengthen the co-operation between Sweden and India.

India, thus, becomes the fifth country where Sweden has established such an office. The others are the US, Japan, Belgium and China. The office is expected to serve as a catalyst for research co-operation between Sweden and India.

In 2005, India and Sweden signed an MoU on science and technology to promote co-operation in ICT, biotechnology and environment technology. The office that has been set up by Sweden is a result of that. The office will facilitate co-operation on R&D and promote an exchange of knowledge between the two.

The Swedish Office of Science and Technology is part of ITPS (Swedish Institute for Growth Policy Studies) and acts as the liaison office for Swedish governmental agencies like VINNOVA, the Swedish Agency for Innovation Systems, NUTEK "" Swedish Business Development Agency and STEM "" Swedish Energy Agency.

The Swedish Embassy has also instituted two prizes at the recently set up Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology (IIST) at the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre.

"The prizes are to be awarded to the two top ranking students of the MSc in space science programme at the IIST," said Stefan Jonsson, new S&T Counsellor, Swedish Office. The prize includes a week's familiarisation tour and exposure to global space research programme in Sweden.