National Productivity and Competitiveness Council

To sustain competitiveness, it is important that we adopt innovation as a way of life. The Innovators Mauritius Award was launched with a view of developing a culture of innovation in all walks of Mauritian life.

The first Innovators Mauritius Award was launched in 2004 under the theme “Sweet Mauritius”, whereby Mauritian were invited to come up with innovative products and processes, using sugar as their source product.

Innovators Mauritius Award II was launched in 2006 and had for theme “Green M – reduce, reuse, recycle waste”. The theme emanated from the combination of two of our agenda items: Innovation and Green Productivity. Participants had to develop a strategy that pursues productivity increases and environment protection simultaneously as nowadays there is a growing awareness for environment friendly products and processes.

The theme chosen for the 3^rd edition of the Innovators Mauritius Award in 2008 was “Eco-living: ‘pour une ile maurice durable’ - Everybody can make a difference...”

The theme chosen was in promotion with the NPCC’s agenda regarding Green Productivity and in support of the Government’s objective of making Mauritius a sustainable island especially at a time when threats of global warming and wide scale environmental pollution are jeopardising human life and the environment.

The theme for the forthcoming innovator’s award scheduled for mid 2011 will revolve around innovations in ‘Out-of-home’ food, which refers to food that is produced and consumed outside the home. That is food which is readily available on the streets, at canteens, in fast foods, selling points, at snacks, in restaurants.... Although we are aware that these types of foods are often categorised as unhealthy and may not fulfill the requirement of a healthy diet, we still consume them because they offer us the benefits of convenience. The rising trend of cardiovascular diseases, diabetes and hypertension among Mauritian Nationals, to mention a few of the unproductive effect of fast food call for us all to stop, think and review our eating habits. Therefore the challenge is to herald healthier alternatives for ‘out-of-home’ foods.