With India soon to be three times the population of the EU, it makes perfect sense to have manufacturing here

As part of Sweden's Focus Asia programme, a high-level SME delegation recently visited India to strengthen bilateral ties and explore collaborations across sectors including pharma, biotech and others. Building on the momentum of the "Time for Sweden" event, the visit underscored Sweden's commitment to innovation, sustainability, and co-creation with India. Among the delegation was Emil Alexander Byström, CEO of SpinChem AB, who in an interaction with Kalyani Sharma shared his insights on how advanced Swedish technologies like biocatalysis and the company's patented Rotating Bed Reactor (RBR) can accelerate India's pharma and biotech innovation journey while supporting sustainable growth.

- By Kalyani Sharma

Could you share a brief introduction about your company and its current work in India?

SpinChem AB is a Swedish process technology company transforming industrial liquid processing through its patented Rotating Bed Reactor (RBR) technology. The RBR enhances solid-liquid mass transfer, enabling faster catalysis, extraction, and contaminant removal while reducing waste. Our scalable systems are applied across pharmaceuticals, biotech, food & beverage, and environmental industries. In India, we are actively engaging with leading biotech and pharmaceutical partners to demonstrate how RBR can support sustainable manufacturing and accelerate the country's innovation-driven growth.

How can Swedish SMEs contribute to advancing India's pharma and biotech innovation journey?

Swedish SMEs can contribute with technology, knowledge, and strong networks across Europe and the world. Out of the 1.2 million companies in Sweden, 99.9 per cent are SMEs. This is quite different from the situation in India, as the absolute majority in Sweden are small companies. For small companies, networks are critical. We focus on innovation and creativity in-house — taking an idea all the way to a finished product with development, testing, and more. But when it comes to manufacturing, we work with multiple subcontractors and suppliers across the globe, while ensuring quality by keeping things as close as possible to ourselves.