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The Indian Institute of Entrepreneurship (IIE), an institution under the Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, with support from the North Eastern Council, will set up Entrepreneurship Development Centres as well as Incubation Centres in higher educational institutions of North Eastern Region (NER) to boost and create an entrepreneurial ecosystem among college students of NER. IIE Director Dr Lalit Sharma, who is initiating the project said, "Youth has played a significant role in developing startup ecosystems in mature ecosystems like Karnataka and Gujarat. IIE plans to develop an ecosystem of NER through college youth. IIE shall reach out to young college students by developing Entrepreneurship Development Centers and Incubation Centers within the higher educational institutions of NER."
The objective of setting up Entrepreneurship Development Centres (EDC) is to boost and promote the culture of entrepreneurship in higher educational institutions and build the capacity of institutions to develop student entrepreneurship, he added. "In comparison to other states, the numbers of student startups coming from NER are considerably low and in order to boost student startups, we need to build the capabilities of higher educational institutions to develop student entrepreneurship. Through EDCs, IIE shall work on enhancing the entrepreneurial intent of students and provide them with all necessary support including expanding upon their ideas, developing prototypes, conducting market research, developing their business plans, pitching for their startups and providing mentoring support to students," IIE director said. The proposed Entrepreneurship Development Centers in Colleges shall perform all these tasks and Incubation Centers shall further support them by providing the necessary technological support, market linkages, financial linkages, handholding support, grant support and professional networking support for the development of commercially viable and sustainable student startups, he added. In the first phase IIE, with the support of the North Eastern Council, will set up 30 Entrepreneurship Development Centres and four Incubation Centres in higher educational institutes across the North Eastern Region. "IIE further plans to increase the number of EDCs as well as Incubation Centres and cover colleges in the remotest areas of NER so that the students from remote areas may also be a part of the startup revolution in the country and contribute towards economic development of NER," he added. As per the plan, the IIE will work closely with higher education institutions to establish these centers that will provide students with the necessary resources, guidance, and mentorship to launch their own startups. Under this project, 50 selected student startups will be supported financially through one-time grant funding of Rs 5 lakh each to start their business. Sharma said, "IIE is excited to take on this new responsibility and is confident that the initiative would help foster a culture of entrepreneurship and innovation among college students in the North East Region." As per the data of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, as on March 2023, there were a total of 1,143 registered startups throughout the eight states of the Northeast. Whereas during the same time period, there were 10,808 startups in Karnataka and 6,988 startups in Gujarat. (ANI)
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