SME Times News Bureau | 06 May, 2010
Australian entrepreneurs should partner with young companies in India to build innovation programmes, speakers at an emerging leaders' summit in New Delhi suggested Wednesday.

Australia should look beyond the big names of business and industry in India and partner with young companies to build innovation programmes, they said according to a release of the summit.

The summit was organised by Advance, a leading Australian people-to-people network of more than 24,000 thought leaders and influencers spread across 80 countries.

The summit explored the role the two countries could play in redesigning entrepreneurial ecosystems, meeting the region’s future water, education, renewable energy and urbanisation challenges.

"The idea was to explore ways to further build bridges between India and Australia and enhance people-to-people networks to recommend best practice creative partnership strategies to enhance economic and cultural ties between the two countries." said Serafina Maiorano, chief executive officer of Advance.

"To find synergies in what Australia is good at and what India needs. For example, in the field of agriculture, Australian agricultural processes are very advanced in food processing. This is important as it can significantly help Indian farmers prolong shelf life for their produce," said Maiorano.

The forum also stressed on improving Australia’s brand equity among Indians.

"It should evolve from perceptions of a nation known for beer and cricket to a country of innovation. Greater support to build an infrastructure to foster exchange and networking of the Australian diaspora in India for dissemination of information through online and mobile communications," Maiorano said.

The summit coincided with the Australian trade minister Simon Crean’s visit to India this week.