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Pressrelease | 2021-10-18
MoU signing ceremony in Nagpur, India.

Innovation and sustainable development in focus for new research collaboration in India

IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute and the Indian research institute NEERI are establishing a strategic collaboration to drive innovation and increase research collaboration in several important environmental areas. A Memorandum of Understanding between the parties was signed during a ceremony held in Nagpur on 18 October.

– The MoU between NEERI and IVL is very much in line with what Sweden and India want to develop together and that IVL together with NEERI can jointly strengthen and contribute to research and innovation needed for the transition to a low-carbon society and meeting the sustainable development goals, says Anna Jarnehammar, vice president at IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute.

In 2018, the government of Sweden and India signed a joint strategic innovation partnership to deepen cooperation between the countries and contribute to sustainable development and new jobs. The purpose of the Memorandum of Understanding between NEERI (National Environmental Engineering Research Institute) and IVL is to promote and strengthen research collaboration between the two institutes and the respective countries. The collaboration covers several different areas in the field of sustainable urban development, such as water purification, circular economy, energy efficiency, transport, mobility, and finding solutions to global environmental issues such as climate.

The letter of intent was signed by Anna Jarnehammar, vice president of IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute and Dr. Sadhana Rayalu, chief scientist, head of Environmental Material Division and acting director at NEERI. Representatives from the Swedish consulate in Mumbai also participated in the signing ceremony in Nagpur on 18 October 2021.

– NEERI is one of the best government Institute in India, equipped with good facilities for advance research. This MOU with NEERI, not only give us opportunity to collaborate with them for different research and innovation projects but also for local commercial projects. This MOU will end our struggle of finding good laboratories in India for sample analysis when needed in different projects and vice-versa, says Rupali Deshmukh, Senior coordinator at IVL and Country Manager India.

India, which is one of the world's largest and most populous countries, has major problems with polluted water and water scarcity – something that is also expected to get worse in the future with urbanization, rapid industrialization, and climate change. To tackle this, the Indian government has introduced several key initiatives – among others those run under the auspices of “Swachh Bharat”, or Clean India campaign. One of the ambitions here is the construction in the coming decade of sewage treatment plants in all major cities. In Mumbai, city authorities have decided to build seven large facilities and IVL has been contracted to participate in the construction of two of these.

– As India progresses in its flagship Swachh Bharat Mission, Sweden continues to be a committed partner for innovative sustainability solutions. The collaboration between IVL and CSIR NEERI in wastewater management solutions further reinforces the Sweden-India joint innovation partnership and helps contribute toward the Sustainable Development Goals, says Anna Lekvall, Consul General of Sweden in Mumbai.

For more information, please contact:
Anna Jarnehammar, anna.jarnehammar@ivl.se, +46 (0)10-788 65 76
Rupali Deshmukh, rupali.deshmukh@ivl.se, tel. +46 (0)10-788 65 56

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