‘Investment in R $ D should be increased'

CHENNAI: Investment in Research and Development is a necessity for any company to be globally competitive and it will have to be increased both quantitatively and qualitatively, Tamil Nadu Governor Surjit Singh Barnala said on Thursday.

Delivering the inaugural address at the 7th International Industrial Exhibition, ACMEE 2006, here, the Governor said "innovation is an important tool of development. We need to network all our knowledge pool and all our resources to facilitate invention and innovation and build intellectual assets giving India a dominant position in the world."

He asked Indian industries to adopt the engineering management system, which helps in achieving product release at the most advantageous time.

ACMEE 2006 will see over 300 companies participate in the fair being held from June 9-12. Companies from Italy, France, Switzerland, Germany, USA, China, Thailand are also taking part. The fair is expected to generate a revenue of Rs 100 crore, K P Shashidar Rao, president, Ambattur Industrial Estate Manufacturer's Association (AIEMA) said.

Rao said there was a lot of vacant land available near Ambattur, which could be used to establish an IT hub. "We have formulated a proposal for setting up an IT park here and will present it to the state government."

"Ambattur is an automobile hub. If IT parks are set up here, it will outshine any other place in India," he said.

Rao said stormwater drains, roads and water facility at the Ambattur industrial estate was being made ready with Rs 47.2 cr provided by the Central Government