OREANDA-NEWS. The focus on design has helped the Tata group create new opportunities. In the case of watches to jewellery maker, Titan Company, the business challenge was that working-women were not spending money on buying precious jewellery. A deep dive into consumer understanding led to a crucial insight - jewellery available in the market did not meet their design and style requirements, as they were either too expensive or too heavy.

The design-led solution was to create contemporary products that were lighter in weight using superior technology and affordable as they used 14 carat gold. The jewellery line, Mia became a success overnight and has already generated a business of over Rs 200 crore in the last one year.

Success stories like these have prompted salt-to-software conglomerate Tata Group to announce plans to give its internal design capabilities a boost by proposing to reward its employees with two design awards, Honour Touch and Honour Feel under the platform of its annual awards for innovative Tata companies. The former will recognise design brilliance for elements that delight users and customers by touch and the latter will reward design elements that delight users and customers through human senses like seeing, smelling, hearing and ambient and experiential form.

Mukund Rajan, brand custodian and chief ethics officer of Tata Sons, told a select media gathering in Mumbai today, “The focus of design is really helping the Tata companies to address the strategic issues such as sustainability, satisfying customers and creating commercial opportunities.”

The Tata Group's spending on R&D, which according to Rajan is intimately connected with the group's spending on design, has gone up by 22.5 per cent over the last year. In 2012-2013, the Tata Group companies spent Rs 13,223 crore on R & D which made up roughly 2.5 per cent of the group's total turnover.