Kashmir University, National Innovation Foundation hold workshop to boost innovation in J-K

NEW DELHI: National Innovation Foundation (NIF), an autonomous body of the department of science and technology (DST), in collaboration with Kashmir University and NIF Incubation and Entrepreneurship Council (NIFientreC) has organised a workshop in Srinagar to discuss a roadmap to promote innovation and entrepreneurship in the valley.

Industry leaders, academicians and other stakeholders deliberated on the roadmap to improve growth and development, and to tap the potential of youth of Jammu and Kashmir. They also discussed challenges and lessons from key milestones achieved, at the roundtable conference titled ‘Inclusive development through entrepreneurial advancement (IDEA)’.

NIF chief scientist Vipin Kumar said, “The time has come when entrepreneurs with the support of ecosystem builders can push their boundaries to grow exponentially and, in this process, could harness their own potential in superior ways.”

Innovators and entrepreneurs present at the conference spoke about some of their accomplishments and also about the challenges related to achieving scale in their respective businesses.They also shared the expectations that they have from the government, especially from the perspective of ease of doing business.

Proposal discussed

Key takeaways from the roundtable included an enhanced focus on awareness, financial literacy, capacity building, leveraging data driven insights, and youth sensitisation activities. The stakeholders also explored newer equity based financing models, case study based models for dissemination of information, mapping expertise of stakeholders and facilitating mentoring on important areas.

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Nisar Ahmad Mir, registrar of Kashmir University familiarised participants on the significant recent initiatives that the institution has undertaken so as to strengthen innovation in the valley.

The participants included representatives from DST, Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI); Amazon India; Press Information Bureau, and Jammu and Kashmir Entrepreneurship Development Institute (JKEDI).