'Innovative technologies necessary for economic growth'

Tuesday, 13 May 2008, 17:40 IST
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Mumbai: The major driving force behind global economic growth is new technologies and India has to find innovative technological solutions if it wants to ensure 10 percent growth, Godrej Group chairman Adi Godrej has said. "If India wants to achieve a 10 percent growth rate, the country will have to find innovative technological solutions within the country itself, and institutions, be it educational, industrial, technological or government bodies, all will have to work in tandem," he said Friday at a function in theIndian Institute of Technology (IIT)-Bombay. He added that last few decades have seen that the global growth "has been primarily technologically driven and Indians will have to think out of the box, if we want to tackle poverty and other issues". On the occasion of the the IIT-Bombay's golden jubilee celebrations, Godrej launched a global initiative to discover "10 great ideas to change the world". The judges will comprise former president A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, industrialists Mukesh Ambani, Rahul Bajaj, Adi Godrej and N.R. Narayana Murthy, and Cambridge University's nano science department head Mark Welland. The competition is open both to the past and present IIT-Bombay students and also to faculty members. In his inaugural address, former IIT-Madras director P.V. Indiresan said: "From the capital-driven growth, we have now entered the phase of technology-led growth. If they aspire for long-term leadership and sustained growth they require technology development-driven growth. All these issues can be solved successfully if a marriage between industry and universities takes place." NIIT CEO Vijay Thadani called on the participants to evolve a system where "there can be an industry with university inside, and university with industry inside". IIT-Kanpur's electrical engineering department head Prem Kalra said: "We need world class research and development facilities. After all, if the Silicon Valley can be created by 50 percent of the workforce having Indian origins, then we can certainly create a similar valley here."
Source: IANS