Visit by the Danish Minister and the Danish Parliament’s Committee of Higher Education and Science
The Danish Minister of Higher Education and Science, H.E. Christina Egelund along with the Danish Parliament’s Committee of Higher Education and Science led by Ms. Katrine Robsøe visited India the first week of March. The focus of the visit was to learn about how the bilateral research and innovation cooperation supports the development of the Green Strategic Partnership between India and Denmark.
The delegation spent the first two days in India’s capital, New Delhi. Here, the Minister and Committee got a broader introduction to the research and innovation cooperation between India and Denmark. Afterwards, the Committee flew to Bangalore where they continued the programme by Innovation Centre Denmark (ICDK) Bangalore. The Minister’s programme included an extra day in Delhi focused on Health and Education. The Minister had several insightful discussion with Indian stakeholders on Danish recruitment of health care professionals in India
On the first day, they met with the Principal Scientific Advisor (PSA) Dr. Ajay Kumar Sood to learn about the PSA’s unique function as a pragmatic and objective advisor to the Prime Minister’s office as well as towards India’s Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) ecosystem. In the afternoon, they paid a visit to Atal Innovation Mission (AIM), the Indian government’s premier flagship initiative to create and promote a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship.
On day two, The Minister and the Committee visited The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI). Subsequently, they visited the Novo Nordisk Foundation (NNF) India office. Finally, the delegation visited the Research and Innovation (R&I) Park at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi home to a plethora of start-ups.
After wishing the Committee safe travels, the Minister paid a visit to WHO for a fruitful discussion on possibilities for recruitment of health care professionals in India.
The following day, the Minister visited Lady Hardinge Medical College where she got a presentation on the LHMC educational system including nursing education and talked with some highly passionated students.
In the afternoon, the Minister met with the Indian Minister of Health and Family Welfare, Dr. Mansukh L. Mandaviya. The two Ministers discussed what concrete steps can be taken to advance recruitment of Indian health care personnel to Denmark.
The Minister paid a final visit to National Skill Development Corporation and met with Secretary, Mr. Atul Kumar Tiwari from Ministry of Skills Development and Entrepreneurship to learn about the organization's work and existing models for recruiting healthcare personnel from India to other countries.
The Committee had three action-packed days in Bangalore. Bangalore is also home to Innovation Centre Denmark (ICDK). The reason for the Committee to visit India is that it has fast become a hotspot for cutting-edge research and innovation and the delegation is here to get a first-hand flavour of it all.
In Bangalore, the Committee met with Danish representatives from the business side in India including A.P. Moller - Maersk Global Service Offices and the new Novo Nordisk India office in Bangalore.
The delegation paid site visits to the Raman Research Institute, Infosys, one of the world's biggest IT companies, ISRO - Indian Space Research Organization, the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), and the Centre for Nano Science and Engineering (CeNSE) lab to learn about the newest research within science and technologies.
