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 cooperation between Sweden and India.India, thus, becomes only the fifth country where Sweden has established such an office. The others to host such an office are the US, Japan, Belgium and China. The office in New Delhi is expected to serve as a catalyst for research cooperation 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 Sweden and India.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.The winners will get to visit key Swedish institutions at the forefront of space research development, such as Uppsala University, where you get to see the manufacture of space micro-satellites and Esrange, the European Space and Sounding Rocket Range -- a rocket range and research centre in Sweden.
