On November 5, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Latvia Edgars Rinkēvičs, together with Minister of External Affairs of India Subrahmanyam Jaishankar and other ministers from the Nordic-Baltic (NB8) region, opened the first India-NB8 business conclave entitled "Innovation-driven partnership for growth in a new world". The conclave featured panel discussions on a range of future technology and innovation issues, such as digital infrastructure and 5G, artificial intelligence, data protection and cybersecurity, the future of manufacturing and the workforce, and green technologies. Latvia was represented in panel discussions by such representatives of the business and scientific environment as LMT, SAF Tehnika, Accenture, organizers of 5G Tehritorija, Latvian Space Industry Association, RTU Telecommunications Institute, Institute of Solid State Physics, University of Latvia, as well as Twino.
Our institute was represented by Head of Laboratory of Materials for Energy Harvesting and Storage Dr. phys. Gints Kučinskis and Head of the Laboratory of Chemical Technologies Dr. chem. Guntars Vaivars, participating in the first session "Renewable Energy and Clean Technologies".
The conclave was organized by the Ministry of External Affairs of India in collaboration with the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), one of the leading industry associations in India, and took place on a virtual platform. The opening of the conclave was attended by the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Latvia, India, Denmark and Estonia, as well as the Minister for Development Cooperation and Foreign Trade of Finland and the Minister of Industry and Innovation of Iceland. The aim of the conclave was to promote existing and identify new opportunities for India-NB8 cooperation on future technologies and innovations, as well as to share intelligence experiences with a view to building new knowledge and industry partnerships towards a digital and green future.
The event consisted of three parts - panel discussions, bilateral contacts (b-to-b), and company expositions.
