The Government is focussing on enabling innovation to provide solutions that cater to the basic needs of the poor, Karnataka Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar said here on Friday.

Speaking at the Confederation of Indian Industry’s (CII) National Quality Summit 2012, he said that the Government has “realised the importance of taking innovation and its benefits to tier-II cities and satellite towns to enable the benefits of innovation for all sections of society”.

He also mentioned that the State had set up an innovation council on the recommendation of the Karnataka Knowledge Commission.

The two-day summit, themed ‘Innovation of Quality – Quality of Innovation’, marks the 20th anniversary of CII’s quality summit. He said that the Government was also focussed on attracting investments in manufacturing, with an emphasis on exports to create additional jobs and reduce trade deficit.

Emphasising on the need to reinvest in technology to meet the demands in various sectors, T.C.A. Ranganathan, Chairman and Managing Director, Export-Import Bank of India, said, “We are in the midst of the global crisis, volatility is high and the global market is shrinking, which is impacting all economies. Therefore, we need to innovate and reinvest in technology and align processes.”

Speaking in favour of foreign direct investment, Jayadev Galla, former chairman of CII Andhra Pradesh, said, though there was a price to pay for the entry of FDI, it facilitates quality. N. Kumar, Chairman, CII Institute of Quality said that innovation had become a global issue and was being addressed by national governments. He said that over 40 quality professionals from across the world would deliver their talk at the summit.

As many as 600 top ranking executives from various sectors, including manufacturing industry, healthcare and information technology are participating in the summit. The Hindu Business Line is the media partner for the event.

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