Tata Technologies signs MoU with GIZ to foster industry-academia-government cooperation
Pune, December 13, 2018 – Tata Technologies Ltd., a global engineering services provider, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), a global service provider in the field of international cooperation for sustainable development, to foster cooperation between industry-academia-government at select geographical locations.
As part of the MoU, both companies will come together to develop a supportive ‘innovation ecosystem’ at selected locations in India. This is to encourage and support academic institutions and Indian MSMEs (Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises) to collaborate, engage and increase their competitiveness. Both companies will also develop linkages and collaborations between industry-academia and facilitate joint projects that demonstrate innovative solutions for industry problems. This MoU shall be effective until December 2020.
Tata Technologies will be an industry partner to GIZ for this project. Through its Ready Engineer partner colleges in various clusters in Maharashtra and Karnataka, Tata Technologies will provide networking support and identify new clusters for GIZ. In addition, Tata Technologies will also provide mentorship and evaluation support for assessing innovation projects in those clusters. Based on suitable criteria and evaluation, Tata Technologies will provide partial financial support to selected innovation projects in its Aurangabad and Nashik clusters.
GIZ will provide necessary technical support for establishing and strengthening the industry-academia network at a cluster level, through the development of systems and processes and handholding of industry associations. GIZ will also offer capacity building support to academic institutions, SMEs and industry associations for the effective rollout of various collaboration measures and facilitate joint projects.
Speaking on the occasion, Warren Harris, CEO & MD, Tata Technologies said, “Through our flagship Ready Engineer program, Tata Technologies encourages and supports students to get industry ready and work on innovative solutions that will address industry-specific problems. The partnership with GIZ is a further reaffirmation of this commitment to bridge the industry-academia gap and helps us leverage GIZ’s rich global legacy of economic development and employment promotion”.
Noor Naqschbandi, Director, Private Sector Development, GIZ commented, “There is proactive support from the German government for strengthening industry-academia cooperation. This partnership between GIZ and Tata Technologies will have a long-term impact on promoting connect between academia and industry in India, particularly in Tier 2 cities”.
