NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has announced a partnership with India aimed at enabling collaboration between Indian industry and the NSW startup, tech, and advanced manufacturing sectors.
The partnership is worth $1.58 million over two years, with these funds to enable NSW startups to travel to India and foster collaboration and commercial connections.
There are already strong business links between NSW and India, with goods trade between the two reaching $3.9 billion in 2016-17; agricultural exports from NSW grew to $759 million.
Berejiklian said the partnership will “ensure our industries grow alongside one of the world’s most dynamic technology markets”.
“[It] will allow us to learn from India’s best and brightest so that we can create the smart jobs of the future. This partnership will provide NSW businesses with incredible access to some of the best entrepreneurs and technology experts in the world and I look forward to seeing the results over the next two years,” she said.
The announcement was made during the Premier’s trade mission to India this week, with Berejiklian visiting Mumbai and New Delhi.
It comes as Sydney-headquartered Atlassian earlier this month announced its opening of an office in Bengaluru, India, which will serve as a research and development and customer support centre.
Atlassian cofounder and co-CEO Scott Farquhar said, “Scaling Atlassian successfully is vital to building an enduring company. Bengaluru has exceptional technical talent, leadership, and business infrastructure that naturally aligns with our long-term company goals.”
According to a report from NASSCOM, the Indian startup ecosystem added more than 1,000 startups in 2017 for growth of seven percent, with Bengaluru and Mumbai among the top hubs.
The report also found that around half the startups added in 2017 were in the business-to-business space, with the number of fintech and healthtech companies in particular growing.
This is the latest international partnership from the NSW Government aimed at boosting opportunities for local startups; it in 2016 signed the NSW and Israeli Innovation Agreement, with an Agreement on Bilateral Cooperation in R&D seeing the NSW and Israeli governments invest $2 million into cooperative startup and innovation projects.
One project saw NSW-based fintech and cybersecurity startups travel to the Tel Aviv landing pad for a bootcamp program.
Image: Gladys Berejiklian. Source: Daily Telegraph.
Trending
Daily startup news and insights, delivered to your inbox.