MCCIA and GIZ sign MOU to strengthen Innovation Ecosystem in Pune

Pune, Dec 6 (KNN) The Mahratta Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Agriculture (MCCIA) and Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) here today to strengthen the innovation ecosystem in Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs).

The MoU was signed during an innovation conclave organized by MCCIA and GIZ with the support of Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, Government of India.

The MoU aims towards supporting and developing an ecosystem which will create a conducive environment for MSMEs to innovate.

The conclave titled ‘Collaborate to Innovate’ was organized to improve the local innovation ecosystem by strengthening and fostering cooperation between companies, research institutions, government, service providers and larger enterprises.

The conclave was inaugurated by Mr Pradeep Bhargava, President, MCCIA and Mr Noor Naqschbandi, Programme Director, Private Sector Development, GIZ.

On behalf of GIZ, the MoU was signed by Mr. Noor Naqschbandi and Mr. Chaman Lal Dhanda, Programme Director, MSME INNO while on behalf of MCCIA, Mr. Prashant Girbane, the association’s Director General signed the memorandum.

GIZ and MCCIA have signed MoU to achieve the common objective of innovation promotion and technology development of enterprises. This collaboration will aim at developing a supportive innovation ecosystem which encourages and supports relevant stakeholders including academic institutions, MSMEs, Corporates and associations to collaborate together to foster innovation.

Under the MoU, GIZ will provide MCCIA all necessary technical support for establishing and strengthening the ‘industry-academia’ network at the cluster level including supporting MCCIA in development of systems and processes for operating such a network, handholding MCCIA in development of a roadmap and action plan for the network, and mentoring support to roll out ‘industry-academia’ collaboration measures.

Addressing the inaugural session, Mr Pradeep Bhargava said a lot of misgivings and myths about innovation needs to be burst. He mentioned hypothesis like one has to be non-conformist, think out of the box, disruptive needs to be discussed.

Mr Bhargava said this conclave is beneficial for stakeholders for innovation promotion in SMEs. Innovation is the main aspect while execution is the next step. However, innovation is required for the makeovers of SMEs.

Talking about Indo-German collaboration on Innovation Promotion, Mr Noor Naqschbandi, Programme Director, GIZ stressed the importance of collaborations. He stressed that the WOW associated with innovation needs to be questioned with HOW ."Important points associated with innovation are Diversity, Education, Ability of the Talent, Flexibility, " said Mr Naqschbandi. 

Indo-German collaboration on innovation promotion is an attempt to strengthen the innovation ecosystem in India by bringing together industry-academia-government institutions.

Mr Chamanlal Dhanda from GIZ said, “GIZ will play an important role in promoting industry-academia cooperation just like in Germany. Emphasis is on creating an ecosystem which will create a conducive environment for MSMEs to innovate”

Mr PM Parlewar, Director, DC MSME, GOI said MSMEs are growth engines of the economy and contribute significantly to country’s GDP. The Ministry of MSME is continuously formulating various schemes for interaction and association of academic institutes and industries.

Mr Manish Kumar, Deputy General Manager, Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) explained the start-up life cycle for SMEs and how SIDBI can support them at various stages.

Under MSME-INNO project, GIZ has been undertaking various initiatives to strengthen innovation system by systematically fostering cooperation between industry, academia and government, and to improve innovation capacity and sustainability of MSMEs. GIZ has been supporting institutions that promote economic development such as business chambers and association in developing a range of innovation-enabling services for MSMEs.

Mahratta Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Agriculture (MCCIA) is a prominent Regional Chamber of Commerce in Pune Region. With more than 3,000 members from across the sectors, MCCIA has been working towards making Pune a global business destination.  (KNN Bureau)