K Ramanathan, Head, United Nations ESCAP - APCTT, spoke in length about Design Engineering and its impact on improving competitiveness. He said that firms compete on the basis of customer value creation and the customer value is a function of quality, delivery, flexibility, convenience and cost. Ramanathan held that design engineering is an important element of technological capability portfolio of a firm and should include design engineering, design for manufacturability, design for maintenance, etc.