How can Danish SME’s access the business opportunities of the Indian Smart Cities-program? What are the main obstacles? And how can they be breached?

Asia House’s project “Gateway to India’s Smart Cities” held its third and final camp on 5 February. At the camp five Indian companies with focus on India’s Smart Cities participated at a high-level. The Camp was very successful, and several Danish SMEs are now ready to engage in a partnership
development with the Indian companies. Furthermore, it was agreed that the participants would actively work on a continuation and further development of the “Gateway to India’s Smart Cities” platform. Perhaps one of the main challenges – and lessons learned from the project – is the need for Danish companies to perform a Proof of Concept (PoC) on their products.

Most Indian companies see the PoC as a basic prerequisite before finalizing a contract. However, while the Indian side expect this PoC to be financed by the Danes, the Danish SMEs see this as part of the delivery.