LeadIT, the Leadership Group for Industry Transition, was jointly launched by India and Sweden with the World Economic Forum at the UN Climate Action Summit in September 2019. According to the MEA brief of May 2026, its membership has expanded to 50 members, including 18 countries and 32 big companies.

Is Sweden part of ISRO's Venus mission?

Yes. The brief states that Sweden has officially joined ISRO's Venus Orbiter Mission, and that the Swedish Institute of Space Physics (IRF) will provide ISRO with the Venusian Neutrals Analyser (VNA).

What defence cooperation exists between India and Sweden?

The 10th Joint Working Group on Defence Cooperation was held in Stockholm on 27 June 2025. In June 2021, SIDM and SOFF signed an MoU to promote defence industrial relations.

India and Sweden: innovation, climate, health and defence

This article describes cooperation between India and Sweden in specific sectors: research and innovation, space, climate action and industry transition, energy, urban development, health, defence, digital technologies and transport. It is based on the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) bilateral brief of May 2026.

Research and innovation

According to the MEA brief of May 2026, the Indian Departments of Science and Technology (DST) and Biotechnology (DBT), together with GITA (a DST-CII collaboration) and ICMR, partner Swedish agencies to co-fund projects relating to research and industrial applications. The Swedish partners named are Vinnova (the Swedish Government innovation and R&D agency), the Swedish Energy Agency, the Swedish Research Council and FORTE (under the Ministry of Health).

The areas of cooperation listed in the brief include Smart Cities and CleanTech, Nano Sciences, Computer Sciences, AI, Smart Grids, Energy Research (storage, e-mobility, new fuels), water, waste to wealth, circular economy and embedded systems. Other areas include Digitization and the Internet of Things, Health and Life Sciences, Biomedical Devices, Bio-Economy, Startups, Test Beds, Bioclusters, Digital Healthcare, Ageing, New materials, and Space and Aeronautics.

A high level delegation led by Prof Abhay Karandikar, Secretary of DST, visited Stockholm from 18-21 January 2026. He had interactions with Ms. Maria Nilsson, State Secretary to the Minister for Upper Secondary Education, Higher Education and Research, and Ms. Sara Modig, State Secretary to the Minister for Energy, Business and Industry. The 6th Meeting of the India Sweden Joint Committee on Science & Technology was held in Sweden in May 2019. The brief also records cooperation in polar research.

India-Sweden Innovation Day

The Embassy of India supports an annual India Sweden Innovation Day. The 12th edition was held under the theme "Co-Creation for Resilience" and highlighted collaborations in clean energy, AI and circular economy; Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari attended virtually, and State Secretary Sara Modig attended from the Swedish side.

Earlier editions recorded in the brief are:

11th edition: October 14, 2024, in Stockholm, attended in person by Deputy Prime Minister Ebba Busch, with Dr. Jitendra Singh, India's Minister of Science and Technology, joining virtually.
9th edition: October 2022, jointly inaugurated by Ebba Busch and Dr. Jitendra Singh.
8th edition: 26 October 2021, inaugurated by Dr. Jitendra Singh with Swedish Minister for Business, Industry and Innovation Mr. Ibrahim Baylan, on the theme of green transition.
7th edition: November 2020, in virtual format, inaugurated by Minister Gadkari and Minister Baylan, with a thematic session on SITIS.

Space

The brief describes ongoing cooperation in the space sector under an MoU signed in 1986. A Swedish scientific payload, SARA, made by the Institute for Space Research IRF in Kiruna, travelled on India's Chandrayaan-I moon mission in 2008. ISRO and the Swedish Space Corporation (SSC) cooperate on telemetry, tracking and command (TTC) services, and SSC and Dhruva Space have signed an MoU to expand collaboration on ground networks.

Sweden has officially joined ISRO's Venus Orbiter Mission (VOM). The Swedish Institute of Space Physics (IRF) will provide ISRO with the Venusian Neutrals Analyser (VNA), which the brief describes as a lightweight and low-power energetic neutral atom (ENA) analyser. The first India Sweden Space and Geospatial Business Summit was held in December 2023.

Climate action and industry transition

India and Sweden jointly launched the Leadership Group for Industry Transition (LeadIT), in association with the World Economic Forum, at the UN Climate Action Summit convened by the UN Secretary General in September 2019 in New York. In December 2023, Prime Minister Modi and Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson co-launched its second phase, LeadIT 2.0, for the period 2024-26 at COP-28 in Dubai. The two countries also launched an Industry Transition Platform at COP-28, intended to connect governments, industries, technology providers, researchers and think tanks of the two countries; it held its inaugural meeting in April 2024 in New Delhi.

The Stockholm Environment Institute is the Secretariat for LeadIT. As of the brief, its membership has expanded to 50 members, including 18 countries and 32 big companies. The companies the brief names among them include Dalmia Cement, Mahindra Group, Spice Jet, Tata Steel, Tata Power and SAIL.

Recent LeadIT milestones recorded in the brief include:

On 17 November, at COP30 in Belém, Brazil, a ministerial roundtable with Environment Minister Shri Bhupendra Yadav and Swedish Climate and Environment Minister Romina Pourmokhtari (participating virtually) announced that Indian and Swedish companies had been shortlisted to develop pre-pilot steel and cement projects in India. SKF Group joined LeadIT's global industry coalition.
In October 2025, State Secretary Ms. Sara Modig inaugurated the India-Sweden Mining Day in India, where an MoU on Research, Innovation and Technology Development for a Sustainable Mining Industry was signed and a partnership between Volvo Group and Tata Motors under LeadIT was launched.
Minister of State Shri Kirti Vardhan Singh and Minister Romina Pourmokhtari co-chaired the 6th Annual Summit of LeadIT during COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan.
A LeadIT delegation including representatives of DPIIT visited Sweden from 5-7 May and attended the India-Sweden Industry Transition Partnership (ITP) Summit 2.0 in Stockholm.

Earlier, Minister Yadav and Minister Annika Strandhäll co-chaired the LeadIT Ministerial meeting in Stockholm in June 2022, and Minister Yadav and Minister Pourmokhtari co-chaired a LeadIT Ministerial in November 2022 on the sidelines of COP27. Minister Yadav and Deputy Prime Minister Per Bolund co-hosted the LeadIT Summit during COP 26 on 9 November 2021. A ministerial LeadIT meeting in December 2020 marked the fifth anniversary of the Paris Agreement with a Joint Ministerial Statement, and an Industry Transition Day was held in July 2020.

In January 2025, Mr. Daniel Westlén, State Secretary to Sweden's Minister for Climate and the Environment, attended the 3rd India-Sweden Joint Working Group meeting on Environment in New Delhi.

Energy and urban development

The Joint Working Group on new and renewable energy met on 17 December 2024. It focused on solar energy, the Waste to Energy Programme, and Green Hydrogen and Energy Storage, including batteries.

The 3rd JWG on Sustainable Urban development was held in Stockholm in November 2025, with the Indian delegation led by Shri Srinivas Katikithala, Secretary, MoHUA. Its main topics were a Green Energy acceleration programme, the planning of urban infrastructure and transport, and sustainable waste management.

Health

The 13th JWG on Health was held in April 2024 in Stockholm. 2019 was declared the India Sweden Year of Health, marking the completion of a decade of the Health MoU, and Swedish Minister of Health Lena Hallengren visited India in February 2019. An India Sweden Healthcare Innovation Centre was launched in December 2019 as a collaboration between AIIMS Delhi, AIIMS Jodhpur, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, ICMR, the Swedish Trade Commissioner's Office and AstraZeneca.

Minister Hallengren addressed Aarogya Manthan 2.0 in a virtual format in August 2020. Indian Health Minister Dr. Harshvardhan addressed the 'Health Talks' organised by the Swedish side during the Nobel Memorial Week in December 2020 and announced the setting up of a Centre of Excellence in Oncology at AIIMS Jodhpur. Minister of Health Dr. Mansukh Mandaviya met Minister Hallgren in May 2022 in Geneva on the sidelines of the World Health Assembly.

Defence

The 10th Joint Working Group on Defence Cooperation was held in Stockholm on 27 June 2025. On 8 June 2021, Raksha Mantri Shri Rajnath Singh and Swedish Minister for Defence Mr. Peter Hultqvist spoke at the India-Sweden Defence Industry Cooperation Webinar, where an MoU was signed between the Society of Indian Defence Manufacturers (SIDM) and Swedish Security and Defence Industry (SOFF) to promote defence industrial relations. Defence Minister Smt Nirmala Sitharaman visited Sweden in February 2019, and the Swedish Chief of Air Staff participated in the first ever Air Chiefs Conclave during Aero India in February 2021 in virtual format.

Digital technologies and transport

The Second JWG on Digital technologies was held in November 2022 in Delhi. Minister Gadkari visited Sweden in February 2020, when a Sweden India Transport Innovation and Safety Partnership (SITIS) was signed. During that visit he met Minister Baylan (Business and Innovation), Minister Eneroth (Transport and Infrastructure) and Minister Anna Hallberg (Foreign Trade).