CII organises West Tech Summit 2019 in Pune today
17 December 2019, Pune-At a time when consumer behavior is changing rapidly , R& D mechanism needs to change drastically to cater to the new generation. R&D needs to be an integral part of the system to build a culture of innovation opined various experts . CII Pune today organized the seventh edition of West Tech Summit 2019 in Pune with various sessions focused on the theme ‘Driving Innovation through R&D’ . The day long brainstorming summit focused on the way organizations should look at R&D and inculcate the spirit of innovation .
Mr Sanjiv Bajaj, Chairman, CII Western Region & Managing Director & CEO, Bajaj Finserv Ltd said that for any large country to be self-sufficient, they have to build our own capabilities, and that is what innovation is all about . As the fastest growing economies in world, what India says matter. We have a history and culture of knowledge creation and innovation. Unless we invest for our future, we cannot be on the global table. The culture of innovation starts with our children. We should build their curiosity. Our generation should be taught to think and that develops culture of innovation and same is true in workplace. While every company cannot be good at everything and therefore smart partnerships for innovations are needed. There is tremendous opportunity in innovation to take our country forward.
Mr Shrikant Bapat Chairman, CII Pune Zonal Council & General Manager – Building Technologies & Solutions, India & Managing Director, Johnson Controls (India) Pvt Ltd gave the welcome address and explained the idea behind organizing the West Tech Summit . He mentioned “R&D and innovation is no longer an option but it has become the integral part to survive.
Mr Rajan Navani, Chairman, CII WR Sub-Committee on Innovation, Technology and Digitalization & Vice Chairman and Managing Director JetSynthesys Pvt Ltd said that in the changing paradigm, it is important for people involved in the process of R&D and innovations that they approach the entire effort differently. It is more about the culture and entire approach that is undergoing paradigm change rather than methodology. The approach and creativity had set models earlier, but today’s time and age is extremely challenging because any incremental change that one is trying to make and hopes to change customer behavior with a differentiate product through innovation, may not work anymore . This is because before we know the consumer has already moved on. It is extremely hard to control the behavior of what consumers are going to do. Citing the example of auto industry, the innovation is not only in the product, but also about the service. So R&D mechanism has to change drastically to cater to the new generation.
Mr Alakesh Roy, Vice Chairman, CII Pune Zonal Council & Managing Director, Zamil Steel India & General Director, Zamil Steel Vietnam said that R&D is not only related only to product, but also how to use the product and services . We need to graduate from the commodity front to technology front as far as R&D is concerned. If India wants ‘Make in India’ to happen, we need to invest in product, technologies and services which are beyond world class today and will be world class tomorrow.
Mr Nilesh Sahasrabudhe Convenor, CII Pune IT Panel & Global Head Cognitive Automation CoE, Tieto Inc said that the core business needs to be R&D . As far as innovation is concerned everything starts at the college level, we should look at whether there is culture of innovation. R&D needs to be an integral part of our system. Innovation culture means everybody in the organization should look to participate in innovation and not leave it to the R&D team.
Over 100 delegates across the industry participated in the Summit and interacted with the experts from the industry.
