Eco-innovation critical to long term growth of Indian economy February 17, 2012: The sixth edition of LIBA s annual

business ethics conferenceBeacon 2012, held in Chennai today and discussed the crucial role and urgent nee d for eco-innovation in India to ensure sustained long term growth. Smt. Jayanth i Natrajan, Minister for Forests & Environment inaugurated the conference earlie r in the day and said the Indian Government recognizes and is committed to encou raging product, process or system innovations that provide a better quality of l ife with minimal use of natural resources. Body: Eminent academia and business leaders including Dr Nandita Krishnan, Direc tor - CPRAF and Editor, Indian journal of environmental education, Prof Oopali O perajita, Chair- The Al Gore Sustainable Technology Venture Competition, Mr P Mu rari, Advisor- President FICCI, Ulhas Parlikar, Director, ACC-Geocycle India & Golden Peacock Eco-Innovation 2009 Award winner, Prof. Sudhir Chella Rajan, Head Indo-German Centre for Sustainability at IIT Madras, Mr. Rajendra Singh, winner of 2001 Ramon Magsaysay Award for Community leadership and Sudeep Jain I.A.S, Chai rman & Managing Director, TEDA, among others spoke at the conference. They reite rated that the market for eco-innovation in India is enormous and said that poli tical backing and enabling policies though is fundamental to ensure progress in the right direction... India has among the highest per capita resource consumption which is leading to rapidly growing demand on energy, metals, construction, material, etc. and signi ficant scarcity in many of the natural resources. A demand for eco-innovation h as arisen because of the need to address today s pressing environmental challenges. Housing, mobility and food and drink were identified as having the highest envir onmental impact. These fields of demand account for more than 70% of environment al impacts arising from all products over their life cycles. The environmental i mpact within these areas are multifaceted, ranging from global warming, photoche mical ozone formation to localized pollution. Speaking on the occasion, Smt. Jayanthi Natrajan, Minister for Forests & Environ ment said, Incremental resource saving innovations related to existing technology a re important but will not help deliver long term results. Radical eco-innovation s are required which rethink and develop whole new systems to deliver economic a ctivities with a small fraction of natural resources. Policies must therefore be urgently reoriented towards material saving technical progress. There is a need for fundamental change in the economic incentives that drive technical progress in this area. Making an inaugural address, Fr. Christie, Director, LIBA said, Emerging and fast g rowing economies like India cannot afford to ignore the double imperative of eco nomic growth and environmental stability. The critical question with respect to growth is how can businesses meet the demand of growing sustainably without abus ing the natural environment. We are glad that Beacon 2012 is providing a platfor m for thought leaders, policy makers and practitioners to engage in discussions and analysis of how eco-innovation can be fostered in India. About LIBA: Loyola Institute of Business Administration (LIBA), established in 1979, is a pr emier management institute known for its academic excellence and value-based edu cation. It is the only private B-school in South India to consistently rank in t he Top 10 of such institutes in India. LIBA provides management education to bot h fresh graduates seeking world-class management education and also to those who are already employed and want to enhance their managerial skills. In addition, it offers a doctoral program, one year executive PG Diploma, certi cate programs, bl ended learning (E-Learning) and executive PG programs. The Post Graduate Diploma in Management (full-time) is being offered since 1995. Both the part-time and t he full-time PGDM programs are approved by the AICTE and the full-time program i s recognized by the AIU as equivalent to the MBA degree of Indian Universities. LIBA also has collaborations with several Universities overseas and seeks to imb ibe a global mindset in its students. For editorial enquiries contact: Swetha/Samheetha of PRHUB @044-64547284/swetha@ prhub.com /samheetha@prhub.com