I was studying the Global Competitiveness Report for the year 2006-07. There I find, in terms of Growth Competitive Index ranking, Switzerland is ranked 1, Finland is ranked 2, Singapore is ranked 5, US is ranked 6, Korea 24, UAE 32, India 43 and China 54. I am glad to find that India has moved up in competitiveness to 43.
Some time back, the President of Finland, Her Excellency Tarja Halonen, visited Rashtrapati Bhavan. During our discussion, I asked the President of Finland, what is the significance and how Finland is always in the first few positions in the competitiveness index during the last few years. She gave three reasons: (1) Education, Education, Education - it is the foundation for the Finland's competitiveness, (2) life long learning is promoted in Finland. People are continuously in learning mode. (3) Women are empowered with education.
Of course, we have similar experiences in the country; wherever we have empowered women with education, they have excelled in Human Development Index.
Growth competitiveness is determined by the innovative ability of any institution or organisation.
This innovation arises from institutional initiative and the research and development productivity of the firm. Innovation is the prime mover for engineering design, engineering development, value addition and production.
Copyright@www.abdulkalam.com. This is an article written by former President Dr A P J Abdul Kalam.