The Embassy of Sweden, the Consulate General of Sweden in Mumbai and the Swedish Institute are organizing a 42-hour digital Sweden-India Mobility Hackathon: Changing the way we move! on February 26-28, 2021. The mission of the hackathon is to design, test and execute ideas for the future – with a particular focus on mobility.Sweden and India have joined forces to tackle important issues regarding safe and sustainable transportation. Hence the hackathon is designed as a designer sprint-like event in which participants collaborate intensively on digital innovations to create functioning solutions to predetermined challenges by the end of the event namely – Lethal accidents in traffic, Safe and sustainable transport, Air pollution/ emissions from traffic sector, Infrastructure for connected vehicle and Sustainable logistics.Students, entrepreneurs, innovation enthusiasts, developers, designers, creatives and mobility experts across India and Sweden are invited to participate in the Hackathon, to innovate and co-create on the topic of the future of sustainable mobility sector, to work on industry challenges and develop solutions and proof of concepts.The theme has a strong connection to the Joint Innovation Partnership that exists between India and Sweden and the Sweden-India Transport Safety & Innovation Platform (SITIS) which was launched in February 2020. SITIS was launched in Stockholm, in the presence of Nitin Gadkari, Indian Minister of Transport & Highways, Government of India and Thomas Eneroth, Minister for Infrastructure, Government of Sweden.Speaking about the initiative, Klas Molin, Ambassador of Sweden to India said: “Sustainable transport and road safety are areas that our governments are deeply engaged in. As emissions, traffic accidents and inefficient traffic flows characterize more and more of the world's major cities, the hack aims to, develop solutions to these problems. We are delighted that the Swedish Institute is organizing a Sweden-India Mobility Hackathon on this subject in the end of February, with the Embassy of Sweden and the Consulate General in Mumbai as partners. It’s very encouraging to see that several Indian organizations and companies have joined the hackathon as partners.”

The Hackathon is led by the Swedish Institute with support from several Swedish and Indian partners including startups, incubators, research institutes, innovation cells, road safety organizations and companies in sectors of sustainability, automotives and transport.Madeleine Sjöstedt, Director-General of the Swedish Institute, said, “Sweden and India have come together to tackle important issues regarding safe and sustainable transportation. Issues that affect us all. Leading companies, experts and top talents from both our countries have joined, and we are full of expectations of what ideas, solutions and connections this hackathon will be the beginning of.”The participants will have access to a unique network of major Swedish and Indian companies and institutes and will work to solve questions based on open data sources. The winners will get to pitch ideas and receive guidance from the partners to further develop, realize and implement their solutions. Institutions and universities are also invited to join as key partners in recruiting talent, providing guidance and supporting co-creation, innovation and sustainability. Professors, Leaders, Engineering, Transport and Creative experts are also encouraged to enroll as Mentors whose aim would be to guide and support their assigned teams on the mobility challenges.