The fifth meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation start-up forum will be held in January next year, the commerce and industry ministry said on Thursday.
The initiative is aimed at promoting start-up interactions among the SCO member states, fostering an environment conducive to innovation, and inspiring young talent to develop innovative solutions.
The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) is a eight-member multilateral organisation, established on 15 June 2001 in Shanghai, China. Its members are China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, India, Pakistan and Uzbekistan.
The ministry said that the fourth edition of the SCO Start-up Forum was organised on March 19 here.
"Going forward, India will host the second meeting of the SWG in November 2024 and SCO Start-up Forum 5.0 in January 2025," it said.
The members created a Special Working Group (SWG) for Start-ups and Innovation in 2022 with an aim to foster collaboration among SCO member states, to not only benefit the start-up ecosystem, but also accelerate regional economic development.
In 2023, after multiple rounds of meetings chaired by DPIIT (Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade), the member states decided to approve and adopt the regulations of the SWG to be permanently chaired by India in SCO.
It added that the start-up engagements are organised by India with the objective of empowering the local start-up ecosystems in the SCO member states and providing value to start-ups through mentoring and enabling access to investor and corporate engagement activities.
