Innovate and go global, Kalam tells industries

 

Kochi: Former President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam on Friday stressed the need for innovation to make industries internationally competitive.

 

Inaugurating the silver jubilee celebrations of the Cochin Export Processing Zone Industries Association, Dr Kalam asked the federation of industries to interact with innovation promotion organisations to create a mechanism to assess the innovative ability of industries.

 

He  said that the higher the innovation result, the higher will be the knowledge building and wealth generation capacity leading to economic prosperity of the nation.

 

“India is 64 in global innovative index and our ranking in global competitiveness index was 59 in 2012-13. If we have to catch up with Singapore, Germany, Sweden, Switzerland, Finland and USA which top in both indexes, India has to focus on institutions, infrastructure, macroeconomic environment, health and primary education,” he said.

 

He also laid emphasis on bio-fuels, especially to benefit the airline and automobile sectors. One of the reasons for India withstanding the  economic crisis faced by western nations in recent times was the conservative nature of the banking sector, he added.