New Delhi, Dec 29 (KNN) Union Minister for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME), Kalraj Mishra, inaugurated the National Workshop on Design Clinic Scheme under National Manufacturing Competitiveness Program on Thursday in New Delhi.

The scheme will be implemented under the Office of the Development Commissioner, Ministry of MSME in association with the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad, India.

A National Workshop for Design Clinic scheme was held with potential stakeholders to make MSMEs competitive in the national and international arena. This National Workshop has helped Ministry of MSME and National Institute of Design to share the success and explore future directions for a sustained growth of the MSME Sector, according to the reports.

During the course of program it was discussed that the MSME sector plays a significant role to the country’s GDP, total industrial production and employment generation. Continued manufacturing competitiveness of MSME sector is the key to India’s future growth. Manufacturing Competitiveness is concerned with productivity and sustaining productivity is dependent on the ability of industry to produce new, desirable, quality products that sustain the changing and demanding needs of the user and marketplace.

Design Clinic Scheme for MSMEs under the National Manufacturing Competitiveness Programme (NMCP), Ministry of MSME, aims to provide design initiative for improvements in products, processes, communication, ergonomics, packaging and many other system level activities through design support and interventions. Recently the scheme has been up scaled with revised budgets, commitments and targets.

Up scaling this sector requires a quantum jump in evolving strategies for reaching out and empowering this sector to be able to tap into the design, innovation, human skill development and marketing ecosystem in the country. Thus, the Design Clinic Scheme is effectively creating strategic change in the MSME Industrial sector, in the context of the Global Competitiveness.

As part of the workshop, the outcome of various design interventions activities supported under the Design Clinic Scheme were showcased through a display combined with a workshop to address two very important objectives, first to share the accomplishments by respective MSMEs, Designers and Institutes associated with DCS and secondly to address the way forward for the new up scaled Design Clinic Scheme with an aim to draft a policy document for sustained impact of DCS in the improvement of manufacturing competitiveness of the MSME.