J&K to create four innovation hubs under New Education Policy: Kansal

Jammu, Feb 18: Principal Secretary Higher Education Department, Rohit Kansal today reiterated that the J&K Government is committed to supporting the Indian Institute of Technology Jammu and other institutions to build a culture of innovation and growth.

He also committed to supporting innovation hubs not just in IIT Jammu but in other universities in J&K also.

He also announced that the entire process would be enlarged and a J&K wide start up contest would be organized soon. The Higher Education department would support and facilitate a J&K wide version of the event which would be organized by the IIT and supported by the government.

He made these remarks while speaking at a prize distribution ceremony of the first-ever I2EDC Pitch Desk Competition-2022 held at IIT Jammu here today.

The first-ever completion witnessed an overwhelming response from innovators all over the Jammu and Kashmir during which three teams were conferred prizes for the first three places which include: Team BB & GG from SKAUST-K (Rs one lakh) bagged first prize while as Team Azad Identity Solutions (Rs 50,000) from IIT Jammu and Team Manukrishi (Rs 25000) bagged second and third prize respectively.

The organizer of this competition was I2EDC (Institute Innovation and Entrepreneurship Development Centre) also known as the Idea Factory of IIT Jammu whose job is to help in incubating promising startups not just from IIT Jammu but also from the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.
I2EDC hosted an early stage idea pitch deck competition open to the community of all higher education institutes as well as research labs in JK UT and Ladakh in the month of January.

The competition received over 70 registrations, and 35+ valid entries from the Union Territory.
Speaking at the ceremony, Mr Kansal observed that we are living in the age of innovation and the I2EDC Pitch Desk Competition-2022 was a first but very significant step in this direction.

He confirmed that the government stands committed in supporting IIT Jammu in all their innovation efforts and are going to take this forward to expand the scope of this exercise to enable it to reach a much larger audience set.
“We will expand our support in size as well as scope whereby IIT Jammu shall be developed as an incubation hub; we will also support other institutions and universities in J&K by mapping up these incubators with spokes that we will create in all our colleges. The resultant culture of innovation, growth and progress will benefit not just J&K but the entire nation.” Kansal said.

On the occasion, he congratulated all the participants and hoped that the innovators and entrepreneurs will continue in their endeavours.
Director IIT Jammu, Dr Manoj Singh Gaur; Assistant Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering, IIT Jammu and Head I2EDC, Dr Amit Kumar Singh; Professor Incharge Incubation, Prof Rakesh Singhai among other also spoke on the occasion and highlighted the role of innovation and startups in entrepreneurship.
On the occasion, the institute also announced multiple levels of hackathons where all the entrepreneurs and innovators throughout J&K will be invited and will later on also to be opened to all over India.

The IIT Jammu will support the innovators in prototyping with proper guidance while also proving to connect with industry so that developed products can be marketed and startups can grow and have exponential growth as well.