[ President's Columan ]

Jugal Kishore Pansari

President - ITAMMA (2019-2020)

Innovation has reached centre-stage in policy-making in the science and technology domain.This has strengthened the resolve of the government to encourage innovation-based enterprises.At the same time, it has helped in unlocking the latent creative energy of our billion plus people in many fields.

We need all public and private systems around grassroots innovations to become empathetic enablers. And we need to do it, not just for India, but for the whole world. It is our responsibility to prepare India's youth with requisite skills for a future that is already here.

India must not miss out on the opportunities offered, in the textile industry, by the fourth industrial revolution.

So, what are the ways we can better support science, technology and innovation in our industry? Let me quickly proffer a few.

*Rebuild skills. * Revamp textile institutes focusing on science and technology. * Reorient reengineer our universities and learning systems to prepare people for the jobs of the future, not the jobs of the past. * Promote a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship, not the culture of consumption.

With pride, I wish to mention that ITAMMA has also initiated the mission of innovation for Sustainability through its various activities at important Textile Engineering Clusters of India. Activities like 5S, Lean, Design Awareness, ZED Certification, training on lean Six Sigma Yellow and Green Belt Certificate etc have been successfully implemented in Gujrat Cluster. Whereby ITAMMA had a tie-up with The South India Textile Research Association (SITRA), to work together in a consortium for setting up the proposed "Apex Skill Development Centre (ASDC)" of the Tamil Nadu Skill Development Council (TNSDC) for importing high-end advanced training of our members. Events focusing Smart manufacturing, Digitalization and responsible manufacturing are regularly organized through Workshops, Seminars and Technical Sessions Clusters Ahmedabad, Coimbatore and Mumbai involving Experts. Newly introduced awards like Make-in-India, Operational Excellence and Recognition of Patents have further registered a trend towards Technological Development among our members.

With these words of Wisdom, I welcome you all to another exciting edition of ITAMMA Voice focusing on "Innovation in Textile Industry" I hope the topics discussed here will be informative for all our member and readers from the entire textile value chain. Let the force of creativity and ingenuity be with you always!

Permission to Republish given by Director General (Technical), ITAMMA VOICE, Mumbai 400 001.