India and Denmark have discussed ways to deepen bilateral cooperation in the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) sector, with a focus on innovation, technology adoption and intellectual property-led growth. The discussions took place during the fourth meeting of the India-Denmark Joint Working Group (JWG), held in Copenhagen from August 24 to 28 between India’s Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises and the Danish Patent and Trademark Office.
Officials from the two countries exchanged views on their respective MSME and innovation ecosystems and explored opportunities for greater institutional cooperation. The talks covered technology adoption, innovation, intellectual property, technology commercialisation, entrepreneurship and cluster-based development of MSMEs. The Indian delegation was led by Rajneesh, Additional Secretary and Development Commissioner in the MSME Ministry. It also included Director Md Salik Parwaiz, Assistant Director Bhagya Jagadiswaran and Swapna Vanamala of the National Institute for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises.
India’s Ambassador to Denmark Manish Prabhat and Counsellor Ashish Arya represented the Indian Embassy, while the Danish delegation included senior officials from the Danish Patent and Trademark Office and the Royal Danish Embassy in New Delhi.
Focus on innovation ecosystem
As part of the programme, the Indian delegation visited Aarhus University Innovation “Kitchen” and Agro Food Park to study Denmark’s innovation-support and business-cluster ecosystems. The engagements focused on mentoring, start-up support, industry-academia collaboration and cluster-based approaches for assisting entrepreneurs and MSMEs.
The delegation also held discussions with Denmark’s Ministry of Industry, Business and Financial Affairs on business development, innovation and the country’s SME ecosystem. Indian officials also participated in the Nordic-India Startup Summit 2026 organised by TechBBQ, interacting with stakeholders from the Nordic start-up and innovation ecosystem and presenting perspectives on India’s MSME sector.
Future cooperation
During the concluding discussions, the two sides reviewed progress from previous engagements and identified priorities for future collaboration under the JWG framework.
Prabhat welcomed the functioning of the bilateral mechanism and reaffirmed support for continued engagement while encouraging both countries to explore new areas of cooperation.
The discussions reflected the two countries’ emphasis on promoting innovation and intellectual property-led MSME growth through stronger institutional linkages, knowledge exchange and mutually beneficial cooperation.