The CII Raunaq Singh Innovation Grid is a premier platform that helps you meet all your innovation needs. The Grid was developed as a high quality destination which would foster the innovative and entrepreneurial spirit in India.
Vision
“To bring about inclusive growth in the society through employment and wealth generation by helping innovators/ entrepreneurs bring new/ innovative products and services to the market successfully."
Mission
“To act as a networking platform that brings all the elements of the innovation eco-system together, facilitating a faster innovation-to-commercialization process.”
Promoters
CII, with the support of the Sona group, has launched the Innovation Grid with the objective of addressing an important societal and economic need. Read more about CII and the Sona Group:
The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII)
CII works to create and sustain an environment conducive to the growth of industry in India, partnering industry and government alike through advisory and consultative processes.
CII is a non-government, not-for-profit, industry led and industry managed organisation, playing a proactive role in India's development process. Founded over 114 years ago, it is India's premier business association, with a direct membership of over 7,800 organisations from the private as well as public sectors, including SMEs and MNCs, and an indirect membership of over 90,000 companies from around 385 national, regional and sectoral associations.
CII catalyses change by working closely with government on policy issues, enhancing efficiency, competitiveness and expanding business opportunities for industry through a range of specialised services and global linkages. It also provides a platform for sectoral consensus building and networking. Major emphasis is laid on projecting a positive image of business, assisting industry to identify and execute corporate citizenship programmes. Partnerships with over 120 NGOs across the country, carry forward our initiatives in integrated and inclusive development, which include health, education, livelihood, diversity management, skill development and water, to name a few.
Complementing this vision, CII's theme for 2009-10 is 'India@75: Economy, Infrastructure and Governance.' Within the overarching agenda to facilitate India's transformation into an economically vital, technologically innovative, socially and ethically vibrant global leader by year 2022, CII's focus this year is on revival of the Economy, fast tracking Infrastructure and improved Governance.
With 64 offices in India, 9 overseas - Australia, Austria, China, France, Germany, Japan, Singapore, UK, and USA, and institutional partnerships with 213 counterpart organisations in 88 countries, CII serves as a reference point for Indian industry and the international business community.
Sona Group
In a span of 20 years, The Sona Group has scripted a remarkable growth story. With a team of 25 employees, a business model was created, which invited a customer to be an equity partner in the company. The first company of the Group, Sona Koyo Steering Systems Ltd. (then just Sona Steering Systems Ltd.) was established in partnership with Maruti Udyog Ltd.
The Group firmly believes in creating strong partnerships. Steady and sustained growth, based on a clear vision has enabled The Sona Group to become a global organization. Today, The Group consists of 9 automobile components manufacturing companies and 3 services companies in the areas of engineering design and mobility. The group has technical and marketing alliances with domestic and international majors - Maruti Suzuki India Ltd. (India), Mahindra & Mahindra (India), JTEKT Corporation (Japan), Mando Corporation (Korea), Somic Ishikawa Inc. (Japan), ZF Lemförder GmbH (Germany), Somic Engineering Inc. (Japan), Mitsubishi Materials Corporation (Japan), Fuji Kiko (Japan), Koyo Electronics (Japan), American Axle & Manufacturing (USA) and Sixt (Germany). The Group's global footprint spans India, Germany and the USA. It has a strategic investment in Fuji Auto Tech, Europe - which in turn has interests in France, Brazil & Czech Republic. Sona Autocomp Europe and USA provide sales and services support to the Group’s operations overseas. The Group today employs over 3,500 people, and has revenues a little in excess of USD 760 million.
The foundation of the Group is based on three core values: Respect for the Individual, Service to the Customer and Excellence in the pursuit of our goals. The group has been following these principles over the last 20 years. Focus on Quality and the commitment to offer our customers excellence in service, to meet their growing needs, have been the underlying factors of the group’s success. The Sona Group constantly upgrades core competencies and aligns objectives at all levels to help achieve customer satisfaction. The Group has adopted world-class contemporary manufacturing practices like the Toyota Production System (TPS), group Kaizen activity, participative management and break through management, to continuously learn and grow. One of the group companies has the unique distinction of being the second Indian company to receive both the Deming and TPM Excellence Awards. The Group recently started its journey exploring disruptive technologies to bring them to market in the future.
The Sona Group is dedicated to the concept of Sustainability and views it’s financial, environmental and social responsibility with a great deal of concern. It is already the recipient of the TERI Award 2007 for Environmental Excellence and is working on a G3 Compliant reporting system. Energy Conservation and CO2 emission reduction programmes are being put in place to tackle global warming. A Zero Waste programme is dedicated to cutting all waste and developing value-added products. Its social development programmes are focused on education, skill development, entrepreneurship & healthcare. The programmes include the village development programme at Begumpur, Khatola and Nagina villages, the revamp of ITI (Industrial Training Institute), Nagina in a PPP (Public-private partnership) with the Govt. of Haryana, and the setting up of a Centre to promote innovation and entrepreneurship at MDI (Management Development Institute), Gurgaon. The Group is committed to reach out to the underdeveloped and underprivileged sections of society, and equip them with the right skill sets to take on the challenges of life.
The continuous customer focus, dedication, commitment, hard work and creativity of every employee of the Group have brought laurels to the organization. The Sona Group continues to stay focused on the three beliefs and will remain committed to providing innovative next-generation products and services that will help the industry in its needs for the future.
The Grid has been designed keeping you and your needs in mind. The Grid uses the comprehensive Innovation2Market process to introduce fundamental concepts, cover specific learning objectives, and provide you with invaluable resources to help you achieve your goals.
Here's a sample of some of the features you can benefit from:
- Join and participate in thriving communities formed by Grid members around the themes that matter to them. Learn, share, and extend your boundaries with a community that thrives on innovation.
- Discover people and organizations who can help you on your entrepreneurial journey. Connect with entrepreneurs, innovators, venture capitalists, professional service providers (like design and law firms) and government programs, through our comprehensive Resource Bank.
- Welcome to the world of Ideas! Take a peek into the creative ocean of ideas that members of the community are working on at Idea Bank.
- Test yourself on your knowledge of the fundamentals, and discover where you stand, compared to the rest of the Grid. Take our specially designed quizzes.
- Get regular updates about the latest news and events related to Innovation from around the world. Visit Innovation Now.
- Read about the greatest innovators this world has seen in History of Innovation, and get inspired!
While on the Grid, also avail of some of its premium Services:
- Get your questions answered from the gurus! Use our exclusive expert panel to seek personal help. Ask an Expert!
- Use the feedback of experts to get your ideas evaluated, and improve your plans. Use the rating to attract others to your team!
- Post your business plan on the grid in a standard format, and in a completely secure environment. Let others view a section of your plan, and submit the plan for various business plan contests with some easy clicks!
- Get personal mentorship from those who have been there and done that.
