Swedish minister Billstrom meeting 15 tech companies in Karnataka

Bengaluru: Swedish foreign minister Tobias Billstrom, who is on a visit to India for the Raisina Dialogue in New Delhi, is scheduled to interact with about 15 technology companies in Karnataka on Tuesday, the Scandinavian nation’s ambassador to India Jan Thesleff told DH.

(From Left) N Venu Vice Chairman CII Jan Thesleff Ambassador of Sweden to India Kris Gopalakrishnan Past President CII & Co-Founder Infosys Tobias Billström Minister for Foreign Affairs Government of Sweden and Vijaykrishnan Venkatesan Chairman CII are seen during a Special Session on Digitalisation & Innovation organised by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) at Hotel Taj M G Road in Bengaluru on Tuesday.

“He will be meeting a total of 15 different companies based in Bengaluru, many of them Indian and some are Swedish also... The agenda is to see how the two ecosystems, when it comes to tech, research, and space, can work together to come up with solutions,” Thesleff said earlier in the day.

Billstrom addressed over 100 industry executives in Bengaluru on Tuesday in a special session on digitalisation and innovation, organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry in partnership with the Embassy of Sweden. 

“There is impressive growth and rapid technological development in India, which is highly relevant for Swedish companies. Bangalore serves as a hub for the emerging India and I look forward to strengthening the contacts there,” Billstrom said. 

Technology, artificial intelligence, space, life sciences and sustainability emerged as some areas of common interest for collaboration between the two countries during the discussions on Tuesday.

Infosys co-founder and chairman of Axilor Ventures, Kris Gopalakrishnan, during his address, drew attention to the principles of governance, data privacy and ethics to guide the way forward on new innovations and technology collaborations between the two nations.

India and Sweden celebrated 75 years of formal diplomatic relations in 2023. The former is home to over 280 Swedish companies today, one-fourth of which are based in Karnataka employing over 40,000 personnel. Some well-known names include Ericsson, Volvo, SKF, H&M and IKEA.

Billstrom will also be paying a visit to Karnataka Governor Thawar Chand Gehlot and the Indian Space Research Organisation during his time here.