The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII)’s 20th anniversary national quality summit which begins here on Friday will focus on the theme ‘Innovation of Quality – Quality of Innovation’.
“The summit has relevance to companies. Instead of managing the cost of goods or services, businesses will need to manage growth by offering innovative solutions to customers. The quality of innovation becomes a differentiating factor,” a press release from CII said.
In the interdependent and competitive global economy one must find true competitive advantages based on features and capability rather than quality alone. Delivering a solution that is unique to each customer is becoming more important than delivering a standard solution with virtually perfect quality, the statement said.
“The quality of innovation implies how well each business is equipped to innovate and offer high-volume custom solutions. Thus, businesses will be moving from quality improvement to innovation improvement,” the note added.
Interestingly, innovation has become a global issue and is being addressed by national governments. In the European Union, for example, each country must have a national policy on innovation, create an infrastructure for innovation, and establish measures of innovation to grow the economy and maintain and improve the standard of living.
India formed the Knowledge Commission to establish its national innovation policy.
The summit will also examine the relationship between quality and innovation and study recent cases where quality methodologies have been applied in innovation-intensive environments such as commercial research and development.. The inaugural session will be addressed by Jagadish Shettar, Karnataka Chief Minister. T.C.A. Ranganathan, CMD, Export-Import Bank of India, and Mr N. Kumar, Chairman, CII Institute of Quality and Vice-Chairman, The Sanmar Group, will also address the session. Jayadev Galla, Past Chairman- Young Indians (YI), CII, and Managing Director, Amara Raja Batteries, will speak on “The Young Indians Role in making India World Class”.
The valedictory session will be addressed by Buddhist monk Bhikkhu Dhammapala, Maha Bodhi Society, Bangalore who will speak on Happiness Index: The Buddhist Way.
The summit is expected to attract over 500 participants.