Ahmedabad: Product innovation and design go hand in hand — or so do believe two of the country’s premier institutions, the Ahmedabad-based National Institute of Design (NID) and the Bangalore-based Central Manufacturing Technology Institute (CMTI).

Accordingly, the two have come together to address a wide range of issues pertaining to product design. Both NID and CMTI have agreed to integrate their core competence towards improving product features and functionalities.

Says NID executive director Darlie Koshy: “The coming together of both the institutes can be viewed as a fusion of product design and technology.”

Adds CMTI director C Gajendran: “The need of the hour is ‘design for manufacturing.’ Our institutes can provide the technological expertise in precision engineering, prototyping, rapid tooling technologies, IT in manufacturing, quality control and assurance which will help reduce the development cycle time which is essential while introducing new products in the market.”

In a memorandum of understanding signed between the two institutes, CMTI has agreed to donate two acres of land to NID to establish a digital design and product innovation centre in Bangalore, which will be part of the NID campus. The activities envisaged by the institute will encompass joint applied research projects and training and educational programmes for both the institutes and the academia.

Observers within both the institutes feel that the strategic alliance between the two will pave the way for improving competitiveness among Indian industries. As for the consumers, perhaps they can now look forward to better-designed everyday-use products.