Sweden is keen on partnering with Indian companies in areas such as power, urban transport, and waste management to build smart cities, said Anna Liberg, Trade Commissioner to India, Business Sweden India and South Asia.

“Sweden is a global leader in building smart cities. We have been doing that for the longest time. We will not adopt a city, but will focus on the required building blocks for smart cities, such as smart grids for power, telecom, public transport, clean air, water and waste management and showcase them across India,” Liberg told BusinessLine .

Sweden currently has a pending memorandum of understanding (MoU) on urban development framework with India. “The MoU is expected to be signed during President Pranab Mukherjee’s visit to Stockholm on June 1, 2 wherein a large part of the trip will focus on discussions on smart cities.” A business delegation is accompanying Mukherjee during the visit.

Stating that it will look at the public-private-partnership (PPP) model for smart solutions, Micael Hagman, Counsellor – Energy, Environment and Climate Change, said many Swedish companies will be participating in the Smart City Expo on May 20-22 in New Delhi.

“We are meeting with 20 Swedish companies that offer smart solutions and are asking them to come up with pilot projects and look for business opportunities with Indian partners,” Liberg said.

Swedish company Envac has installed an integrated automated waste and recyclable segregation plant in the Gujarat International Finance and Tec-city (GIFT City).

Also, Scania, manufacturer of buses, trucks and engines, has engaged with several parties to create a value chain in Nagpur to produce biogas from wastewater. The biogas will be upgraded to vehicle fuel quality to run Scania buses in the city.

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