India and Denmark have agreed to strengthen bilateral cooperation on micro, small and medium enterprise (MSME) development, innovation and intellectual property following the fourth meeting of their Joint Working Group (JWG) in Copenhagen. The agreement was announced in an official statement from India's Ministry of Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises on Tuesday.
The meeting, held from August 24 to 28, brought together the Ministry and the Danish Patent and Trademark Office (DKPTO) to review past engagements and discuss priorities for future collaboration. According to the Ministry's release, both sides exchanged views on their respective MSME and innovation ecosystems and explored areas for greater cooperation, including technology adoption, innovation, intellectual property, technology commercialisation, entrepreneurship and cluster-based development.
The talks also covered outcomes of previous engagements and deliberated on ways to expand cooperation under the existing JWG framework. The Indian delegation was led by Dr Rajneesh, Additional Secretary and Development Commissioner at the Ministry of MSME.
Delegation Engagements in Denmark
As part of the visit, the Indian delegation toured Aarhus University Innovation "Kitchen" and Agro Food Park to study Denmark's innovation support and business cluster ecosystems. These visits facilitated an exchange of experiences on mentoring, start-up support, industry–academia linkages and cluster-based approaches for supporting entrepreneurs and MSMEs.
The delegation also met with the Danish Ministry of Industry, Business and Financial Affairs to discuss business development, innovation and the SME ecosystem in Denmark. In addition, the delegation participated in the Nordic–India Startup Summit 2026 organized by TechBBQ, a leading Nordic start-up event, which provided an opportunity to interact with stakeholders from the Nordic start-up and innovation ecosystem and share perspectives on India's MSME sector.
Ambassador of India to Denmark, Manish Prabhat, appreciated the successful functioning of the JWG mechanism and the deepening of India–Denmark cooperation. He reaffirmed support for continued engagement under the JWG framework and encouraged exploration of new and complementary areas of collaboration.
Trade and Economic Context
According to data shared by the Embassy of India in Denmark, bilateral trade in services between the two countries rose to USD 4.25 billion in 2025, with India's services exports at USD 1.9 billion and imports at USD 2.3 billion. This compares with total services trade of USD 4 billion in 2024, when India's exports stood at USD 1.7 billion and imports were valued at USD 2.3 billion.
The Ministry's statement underscored the shared commitment of both countries to promoting innovation and IP-led growth of MSMEs, while strengthening knowledge exchange, institutional linkages and opportunities for mutually beneficial cooperation.