The 4th Meeting of the India–Denmark Joint Working Group (JWG) between the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, Government of India, and the Danish Patent and Trademark Office (DKPTO) was held in Copenhagen, Denmark, from 24 to 28 August 2026, to strengthen bilateral cooperation in MSME development, innovation and intellectual property (IP).

The meeting provided a platform for India and Denmark to exchange perspectives on their respective MSME and innovation ecosystems and to explore opportunities for greater institutional cooperation. Discussions covered areas including technology adoption, innovation, intellectual property, technology commercialisation, entrepreneurship and cluster-based MSME development.    

The Indian delegation was led by Dr. Rajneesh, Additional Secretary & Development Commissioner, Ministry of MSME; Md. Salik Parwaiz, Director; Ms. Bhagya Jagadiswaran, Assistant Director; and Ms. Swapna Vanamala, Faculty Member, National Institute for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (ni-msme).
The Embassy of India in Copenhagen was represented by Mr. Manish Prabhat, Ambassador of India to the Kingdom of Denmark, and Mr. Ashish Arya, Counsellor.    

The Danish delegation comprised Ms. Maria Skou, Deputy Director General, DKPTO; Mr. Mattias Dinnetz, Senior Advisor, International Cooperation, DKPTO; and Ms. Louise Boisen, Counsellor, Intellectual Property Rights, Royal Danish Embassy, New Delhi.

Key Takeaways & Engagements

• As part of the programme, the Indian delegation visited Aarhus University Innovation “Kitchen” and Agro Food Park to gain insights into Denmark’s innovation support and business cluster ecosystems. The engagements facilitated an exchange of experiences on mentoring, start-up support, industry–academia linkages and cluster-based approaches for supporting entrepreneurs and MSMEs.

• The delegation also engaged with the Danish Ministry of Industry, Business and Financial Affairs to exchange views on business development, innovation and the SME ecosystem in Denmark.

• The delegation, led by Dr. Rajneesh, Additional Secretary & Development Commissioner, Ministry of MSME, also participated in the Nordic–India Startup Summit 2026 by TechBBQ, a leading Nordic start-up event, which provided an opportunity to interact with stakeholders from the Nordic start-up and innovation ecosystem and share perspectives on India’s MSME sector.

• The concluding JWG discussions reviewed the outcomes of previous engagements and deliberated upon priorities for future collaboration and opportunities to expand cooperation under the existing JWG framework.
   
• Ambassador of India to Denmark, Mr. Manish Prabhat, appreciated the successful functioning of the JWG mechanism and the deepening of India–Denmark cooperation. He reaffirmed support for continued engagement under the JWG framework and encouraged exploration of new and complementary areas of cooperation.

The meeting underscored the shared commitment of India and Denmark to promoting innovation and IP-led growth of MSMEs, while strengthening knowledge exchange, institutional linkages and opportunities for mutually beneficial cooperation.

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Sunil Kumar Tiwari

Email – hipessi[at]gmail[dot]com