India-Denmark 4th Joint Working Group Meeting on MSME Cooperation
The Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, Government of India, and the Danish Patent and Trademark Office (DKPTO) held their 4th Joint Working Group meeting in Copenhagen, Denmark from August 24 to 28, 2026. The meeting aimed to strengthen bilateral cooperation in MSME development, innovation, and intellectual property.
The Indian delegation was led by Dr. Rajneesh, Additional Secretary & Development Commissioner, Ministry of MSME, and included Md. Salik Parwaiz, Director; Ms. Bhagya Jagadiswaran, Assistant Director; and Ms. Swapna Vanamala, Faculty Member from the 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 Denmark, and Mr. Ashish Arya, Counsellor. The Danish delegation comprised Ms. Maria Skou, Deputy Director General of DKPTO; Mr. Mattias Dinnetz, Senior Advisor for International Cooperation; and Ms. Louise Boisen, Counsellor for Intellectual Property Rights at the Royal Danish Embassy in New Delhi.
Discussions covered multiple areas including technology adoption, innovation, intellectual property protection, technology commercialization, entrepreneurship development, and cluster-based MSME development approaches. The meeting served as a platform for exchanging perspectives on respective MSME and innovation ecosystems and exploring opportunities for greater institutional cooperation.
As part of the program, the Indian delegation visited Aarhus University Innovation "Kitchen" and Agro Food Park to gain insights into Denmark's innovation support systems and business cluster ecosystems. These engagements facilitated experience sharing on mentoring methodologies, start-up support mechanisms, 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. Additionally, the delegation participated in the Nordic-India Startup Summit 2026 organized by TechBBQ, a leading Nordic start-up event, which provided interaction opportunities with stakeholders from the Nordic start-up and innovation ecosystem.
The concluding JWG discussions reviewed outcomes of previous engagements and deliberated on priorities for future collaboration, exploring opportunities to expand cooperation under the existing JWG framework. Ambassador Manish Prabhat appreciated the successful functioning of the JWG mechanism and the deepening of India-Denmark cooperation, reaffirming support for continued engagement and encouraging exploration of new complementary areas of cooperation.
The meeting underscored the shared commitment of both countries to promoting innovation and IP-led growth of MSMEs while strengthening knowledge exchange, institutional linkages, and opportunities for mutually beneficial cooperation.