Switzerland's interest in innovation, Consul General talks with Minister

BENGALURU: Switzerland has expressed its interest in working with the state in the field of science and research and innovation, in this regard the country's Consul General Jonas Brunschwig held a detailed discussion with the Minister for Large and Medium Industries MB Patila here on Monday.

Speaking on the occasion, Brunschwig said, "In order to take the partnership between Switzerland and Karnataka to new heights, an institutional framework called Indo-Swiss Innovation Platform is being established. The platform will be launched by holding a three-day conference at the National Center for Biological Sciences (NCBS) in Bengaluru. 25 experts will participate," he said.

Around 49 Swiss companies are active in Karnataka, creating 17,800 employment opportunities. Of these, approximately 40 companies have manufacturing units in the state. The main objective of the conference to be held in the coming days is to focus more on Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR). He said that this will ultimately help to further expand the partnership between the education sector and the industry.

There are many Swiss companies in the state for the past 30 years. Overall, the amount of capital invested by home country companies in India has increased by 53 percent between 2015 and 2022. He also explained that there has been a growth of 9 percent in the last seven years in the investment of Indian companies in Switzerland.

Responding to this, the Minister said, "India is a huge country and structural changes are being seen here. There are dozens of excellent educational and research institutes like the Indian Institute of Science in Bengaluru, and Swiss companies should study and collaborate with them. The government will give free opportunities for this."

Decarbonisation, eco-friendly fuel are all to be done here. For this, green cover should be created everywhere. Such interest should also arise in public. He informed that the government has taken steps to produce green energy in Mangalore and a huge amount of investment is flowing in. On this occasion, he showed the Swiss Consul General the video footage of the crore tree campaign in which he had self-interestedly planted 1.5 crore saplings in his home district Vijayapur.

Industrial Department Commissioner Gunjan Krishna and Udyog Mitra CEO Dodda Basavaraj were present during the discussion.