The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Showcasing British engineering acumen

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, May 24, 2008
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Showcasing British engineering acumen

Special Correspondent

U.K. looking forward to long-term technological partnership with India

— Photo: R. Ragu

PROMOTING TIES: (From left) Peter Mathews, Chairman, UKTI; Michael Gregory of the University of Cambridge; C. Mark Ridgway, managing director, Group Rhodes; and Margaret Porteous, director, advanced engineering, UKTI, at a press conference in Chennai on Friday.

CHENNAI: “Fifty per cent of every Airbus is made in the United Kingdom…Formula One cars are dependent on British manufacturing and engineering…Advanced engineering in the U.K. has an annual turnover of 160 billion pounds…”

Those are the kinds of facts and figures that U.K. Trade and Investment (UKTI) is throwing at Indian businessmen to “correct the misperception” that the U.K. is not strong in engineering fields.

“When you talk about advanced engineering, the U.K. is not the first name that springs to Indian lips. In fact, Germany is,” said Margaret Porteous, director of advanced engineering at UKTI. She and her colleagues from the British government, industry and academia then offered evidence to convince Indians attending their travelling workshop here on Friday that the U.K. was not only at the cutting edge of global engineering but was looking to partner India.

“No longer is India seen merely as a cheap labour market. We are looking for long-term partnerships,” said Mark Ridgway, managing director of Group Rhodes. “There is a lot of potential for Indian firms to partner with smaller U.K. companies, who are usually part of the supply chain of big firms such as Rolls Royce or BAE Systems…They may be unknown names, but they have cutting edge technology,” he pointed out.

“Engineering is about ideas, not just about execution; ideas in every part of the value chain, from R&D and design to production, distribution and services…We need global coordination to integrate all the stages in the vale chain,” said Mike Gregory, head of manufacturing engineering at Cambridge University.

“Indian companies are looking to leapfrog in technology,” said Prodrive’s Rob Townshend, pointing out that partnering British companies would offer them that opportunity. “We are also a stepping stone to the European market.”

The Indo-U.K. trade and investment have grown largely because of familiarity—a common language, shared relationships in the past and the Indian diaspora—rather than a belief in British engineering. But that rationale is changing. “We are now here to make the case for Britain as a strong business and technology partner, and not just as an old friend,” UKTI chairman Peter Mathews said.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Tamil Nadu