Shillong, Oct 28: The Government of India has recognized the NEHU, Shillong and Tura campuses as Host Institutes (HI) from the state of Meghalaya under the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) Ministry.
NEHU is the only recognized academic institution as HI with the Government of India in the state of Meghalaya. The MSME works with an objective to encourage entrepreneurship, employment and livelihood opportunities to enhance overall competitiveness of the Indian industries.
Recently, the Ministry had launched the MSME Hackathon 2.0on the different theme areas related to the agriculture sector, healthcare, power, information technology, service, environment, circular economy etc.
The scheme was launched on 2nd October, 2022by the Hon’ble Minister for MSME, Govt. of India. The due date for submission of proposal was 14th October, 2022, which was further extended to 14th November, 2022 by the Ministry.
The idea of the MSME Hackathon is based in line with the vision of Hon’ble Prime Minister of India “Atmanirbhar Bharat”, where entrepreneurs are basis of social change which the country aspires for to lay the foundation of New India, fill in the gaps and find viable solutions to meet the needs of the country.
The MSME has invited the citizens of the country to participate in this exercise to find solutions to local problems and build a powerful India by transforming the social, cultural and economic system to become a world leader.
The primary objective of the scheme is to promote and support untapped creativity and help in adopting the latest technologies and methods in the MSME sector.
The selected ideas would be provided a funding support for nurturing and development of the idea for an amount of uptoRs. 15 lakhs per approved idea, through the Host Institution (HI) chosen by them.
The University constituted a committee headed by Prof. A.P. Pati, Dean, School of SEMIS, NEHU to work on proposal submissions for the Hackathon. Till date 24 innovative ideas in different theme areas have been submitted from both Shillong and Tura campuses and more are in pipeline.
The ideas include proposals for value added fermented foods and beverages, digital mapping of crops, sustainable fashion ideas, digital solution for potable water dispensing, transportation facilitation for differently abled and elderly persons, innovative low cost healthcare devices and best practices in IT sector.
The Vice Chancellor of the North Eastern Hill University, Prof. P.S. Shukla encouraged stakeholders of the University as well as the outside including the local community to actively participate in the initiative of the Government and look for making the region self-reliant and economically strong.
Prof. Shukla has urged the University community, affiliated colleges, stakeholders and local indigenous community people to take proactive participation in the above scheme of the Ministry and share their innovative ideas with solutions to the different problems of the state for long term benefit of the society.
As last date of submitting proposals for the Hackathon has been extended by the Ministry, the University is again going to conduct meeting in the 1st week of November, 2022 for the research scholars, faculty members and whoever is interested from the community to attend the same. The dates for the said meeting would be announced at a later date on the University website (www.nehu.ac.in).
For further details regarding the scheme, they may approach Prof. A.P. Pati on (0364) 272-3131/3132 (O) or email to deanemis@nehu.ac.in at NEHU, Shillong campus or Dr. B.K. Mishra on (0364) 27203651-221407 or email on birendramishra14@gmail.com at NEHU, Tura campus.
