The future Looks Clean Green and Circular - A view from India

My name is Ms.Kalyani, originally from India, recently an MBA candidate from Imperial College Business School, London and happened to attend 5th February’s 2019 event in London at Green Angel Syndicate (GAS) which was an absolutely interesting experience, meeting several clean tech entrepreneurs and enthusiastic investors alike.

Having been born and brought up in India, my country always faced with finite natural resources and ballooning population, increased urbanization and ageing and inadequate infrastructure, in my opinion the current status cannot be maintained. Currently, Government of India (GOI) is looking to implement various measures for improving cities’ infrastructure and especially to design more than one hundred smart cities in the coming few years. Recycling, introducing circular economy concepts, along with implementing various renewable energy technologies are some of the measures in which GOI is looking to accelerate. 

In this context Smile Plastics and Impact Recycling hold great potential to expand their work in Indian markets, and local governments are  currently aiming for more public-private partnerships in this regard. It will be possible to develop partner technologies going forward, creating new business models, products, and the variety of services required to deploy and finance cost effective clean tech solutions at scale. Start ups also create jobs and new opportunities for inclusive growth. 
 
Start up, Nova Pangaea, which specialises in steam to convert biomass waste into fuel  and already works with the Indian sugar cane industry has great potential to expand its business especially to other Indian states and further deploy its model mostly within industrial zones.  On the other hand, GOI is promoting Renewable Energy (RE) technologies especially within the solar and wind sectors, however there is a still a huge market out their where the information to source a project and mapping with readily available investors globally or within India is a huge challenge. 

It is a great opportunity for the start up, Ecompany, which fits in, as they are building a huge AI platform with a readily available information source for both investors and entrepreneurs within the RE space, which is another huge opportunity that will strategically fit in growing the RE eco system in India.  

India is one of the world’s largest producers of plastic waste, while it is a huge problem there exists a massive opportunity for start ups such as Impact Recycling and Smile Plastics.  I personally think these start ups have great potential to form partnerships with local authorities and investors and start working towards the goal of a landfill-free future. I am a firm believer in reduce, recycle and reuse, obviously these start ups are already helping local citizens and organizations hence it will be a game changing opportunity to introduce them to Indian platform(s).  
 
My key takeaway from the GAS event, there is a huge opportunity for UK’s cleantech start ups that can help India in embracing the latest technologies and address challenges which both countries face, especially concerning migration to cities and inadequate infrastructure.  I am sure the partnership will encourage innovation and productivity by helping businesses in the UK and India collaborate on emerging technologies.