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THE MEET
Various reports have suggested that Indian companies invest more in the UK
than whole of European Union ( EU ) put together. Also, there is very less
awareness of opportunities in India amongst small-scale companies in EU and vice versa. In the light of these challenges, Europe India Business Summit 2018 was held in Brussels, the political capital of European Union, over the period of two day i.e on 25th September and 26th September so as to help Indian companies to know more about EU Market and tap opportunities in EU and EU companies to know more about opportunities in India. The summit had participation from a few of the companies from 28 European Union Countries and India, policymakers from European Union and India, Members of European Parliament and other invited guests.
On 25th September, the summit was focussed more on knowledge sharing
with interactions and discussions at Hub Brussels and European Parliament.
About 22 speakers shared their expertise on the 1st day of the summit. The
discussion during the 1st day of the summit was aimed to showcase challenges
and opportunities in India and the European Union so as to help companies
make better decisions while expanding into these markets. About 90
companies working in the areas of technology, manufacturing, education and
healthcare attended the summit.
On 26th September, Indian delegates were taken to a place called Wallonia so
as to get a firsthand experience of seeing EU companies in action and directly
engaging in interactions with experts on the factory floor.
Photos of the summit can be viewed here - http://bit.ly/EIBSphotos
PROGRAMME SUMMARY - HUB BRUSSELS SESSION
The morning session of the summit was held at Hub Brussels, a Government of Belgium supported agency which plays a key role in working with companies to encourage investment into Belgium. Mr.Reinout Van Hullebus, Inward Investment manager at Hub Brussels, formally welcomed the delegates for the morning session.
Following the welcome, Mr Jerome Vermeylen, partner at law firm Altius along with his colleagues at his firm gave interesting inputs on new Belgian legislation for companies and associations. They highlighted those aspects which are interesting for
foreign companies that want to come to Belgium and mentioned about various immigration, corporate laws and employee laws that companies have to follow while setting up their business in Belgium.
After this session, Mr Marc Van Hoof shared inputs regarding the intercultural
aspects of doing business between Europe and India. He mentioned the
cultural sensitivities and other aspects which Indian companies need to take
care while building their business in EU. Following this session, all the
delegates were given an opportunity to introduce themselves and mention their reason for attending the summit. This provided a great opportunity to delegates to network with other delegates during the lunch break.
PROGRAMME SUMMARY - EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT SESSION
Hon Caroline Nagtegaal, Member of European Parliament from the Netherlands, who is also the Vice President of European Parliament delegation for relations with India and Patron of Europe India Centre for Business & Industry formally welcomed the delegates. She shared her thoughts on EU India relations and spoke about fostering closer cooperation between India and the EU, the two largest multiparty democracies in the world. Following this, Mr Sujit S Nair, Chairman of Europe India Centre for Business & Industry, provided an overview of the summit and details of various panel discussions which had been structured for the summit. After his talk, Hon Geoffrey Van Orden MBE MEP who is the member of European Parliament from the United Kingdom and Chair
at European Parliament delegation for relations with India spoke about the significance of Europe India relations and provided his thoughts on how the relationship has evolved over the years. In his role as Chair of European Parliament delegation for relations with India, he has been instrumental in number of initiatives to promote closer collaborations between EU and India.
The first panel discussion of the summit was on "Doing business in India". This session was focussed on various challenges and opportunities which organisations face while they build their business in India. The panellists who contributed to the discussions included a person which policy background, another works closely with a state government in India, another panellist provided expertise to EU companies looking to tap opportunities in India and the other speaker runs a business in India. The panel discussion was Chaired by Ms.Ursa Pondelek – European Parliament - ALDE Policy Advisor, International Trade Committee (INTA) EU-India Delegation. Other panellists included Ms.Pavithra Ratnakar - Consultant – Digital Strategy, Government of Karnataka Ltd; Mr.Thomas Breitinger – Senior Manager Consulting Strategy - -International Markets, Maier+Vidorno GmbH and Mr.Seshadri Vangala – CEO, Ifintalent Global Pvt.
The second panel discussion of the summit was on "Doing business in EU". The session focussed on various challenges and opportunities which organisations face while they build their business in EU. The panellists who contributed to the discussions included a person which policy background who works at European Parliament, another represented an EU based trade body in India, another panellist provides legal expertise to Indian companies looking to build their business in EU whereas the other panellists work for an EU based company. The panel discussion was chaired by Mr Niccolò Rinaldi - Head of Unit for Asia, Australia and New Zealand/ Directorate-General for External Policies of the Union – European Parliament. Other panellists included Ms.Elisa Vlerick – Legal affairs, Vlerick Group; Ms.Ruchi Biyani - Leader- European Practice, Nishith Desai Associates and Mr Jayant Nadiger – Trade and Investment Commissioner, Flanders region.
The third panel discussion was on Opportunities for India EU collaborations in Manufacturing. This session focused on the following aspects: - Why India for Manufacturing companies, Business Mentality and business culture, How EU and Indian companies can collaborate for manufacturing activities, Ease of setting up manufacturing plants in India and EU, Government support in India and EU, Industry outlook and Personal experiences of panellists. The panel discussion was chaired by Mr Arun Murthy Battula, FRSA - CEO, CREACTOS Group. The other panellists included Mr Marius Ochel – Head - Indo-German Association Partnership Program, VDA; Mr Niccolo Griffini - Country Manager, Redecam; Ms.Rupa Rani – President, Confederation of Women Entrepreneurs.
The last panel discussion of the summit was about Opportunities for India EU collaborations in Technology. The session focussed on following aspects:- Why Technology companies should invest in India, Business Mentality and business culture in India and EU, Collaboration opportunities for Indian and EU companies, ease of setting up technology business in India and EU, Government support available for technology companies in India and EU and personal experiences of the businesses. The panel discussion was chaired by Ms.Ashvini Danigond - Managing Director, Manorama Infosolutions Pvt. Ltd. India. Other panellists included Mr.Massimiliano D'Amico – Founder, Be – Come;
Mr.Praveen Paranjothi - Founder, Investor and Technologist, Startup Europe India Network and Mr.Chandra Ceeka - Director, KalmTech.
PROGRAMME SUMMARY - INDUSTRIAL VISIT TO WALLONIA
As part of our efforts to provide a first hand experience to our delegates on launching and expanding of their business in European Union, we took delegates to visit a place called Wallonia, which is around 50 kms from Brussels on 26th September. A bus was arranged to pick the delegates from a designated post in Brussels, and after an hour 's journey, delegates reached Wallonia.
In Wallonia, delegates had the opportunity to visit two organisations. One company called WSL is a Techno incubator which works majorly with technology companies to help them to not only launch their business but also help them to expand their business in Belgium. The delegates also visited another organisation called Sirris which offers support for organisations from the drawing board stage right through to prototype development and pilot tests for finished products. These interactions helped delegates to directly engage in interactions with experts on the factory floor.
EVENT & STRATEGIC PARTNERS
We thank our event partners and strategic partners, who played a key role in helping us organise a successful summit. The event partners for this Summit were as follows
Confederation of Women Entrepreneurs - http://www.co-we.com
Digital Vaasthu -http://digitalvaastu.biz
Creactos Palmyga - http://www.creactos.com/
Belgo - Indian chamber of Commerce - http://www.bic-belgium.com/
German Association of Automative Industry - https://www.vda.de/en.html
Nitish Desai Associates (NDA) - http://www.nishithdesai.com/
Singhs advanced homoeopathy - http://singhsadvancedhomoeopathy.com/
IFIN Talent - http://www.ifintalent.com/
Global Student Connect - http://gsconnect.org.uk/
Manorama Infosolutions Pvt. Ltd- https://www.manoramahealthcare.com