Industrial houses should go for corporate-academica partnership

Bhubaneswar, Oct 17 (UNI) Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik today said the state government had managed to garner a number of prestigious educational institutions to the state and the industrial houses should go for corporate-academia partnership and encourage application-oriented research and development.

Inaugurating the Enterprise Orissa 2008, the largest industrial and sectoral fair of the state, jointly organised by the Orissa State Council of Confederation of Indian Industries and the state government, the Chief Minsiter said the state government was committed to the development of the technical and vocational education sectors to complement the industrial initiatives and help the local people hone their skills.

He said the state government had been successful in garnering a number of prestigious institutions of higher learning such as a new IIT, a Central University, a national institute of Information Technology, Institute of Mathematics.

He said the industrial houses should take the opportunties for corporate-academia partnership.

The Chief Minister applauded the industrial houses for responding positively to the call for ''Investment and industrial diversification in Orissa.'' He said while the traditional sectors of steel, aluminium and power continued to grow several new projects were coming up in the agro-processing, advanced manufacturing, automotive components, ship building, Information technology and hospitality sectors.

Mr Patnaik said some large industries also responded to the government 's vision and helping for the growth of the ancialliary and downstream industries in the state to maximise value addition within the state and create maximum employment potential.

The Industrial Policy 2007 was also designed to address the needs of the ancillaiary and down stream industries.

The Chief Minister said due to the inititatives taken by the government more than 50 per cent of the MoUs signed in the iron and steel sector have started commercial production.

He hoped the trend would continue and the state would soon emerge as a more competitive steel, aluminium and power hub in the globe.

Speaking on the occasion Industries Minister B B Harichandan wanted the mother industries to contribute for the growth of small medium eterprises and urged the banks to play a pro-active role to promote micro small and medium enterorises.

Industries secretary Aditya Padhi said Orissa was one of the investment destinations of the country.

'' Though the state has three per cent of the total population of the country it attracts ten per ent of the total investment, '' he said adding due to the largescale investment the state would continue to grow in the industrial sector in the coming years.

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