J&K emerges top performer in states on support to startup ecosystems’ ranking: official

JAMMU, April 16 (PTI) Jammu and Kashmir has emerged as the top performer among Union Territories and north-eastern states in the ranking of states on support to start-up ecosystems’, Commissioner Secretary, Science and Technology, Saurabh Bhagat said on Sunday.

He said in the past few years, 84 start-ups have been established in J&K.

“The states and the UTs have been classified into five categories including best performers, top performers, leaders, aspiring leaders and emerging start-up ecosystems.

“Jammu and Kashmir, which has been clubbed with UTs and the North-Eastern states including those having less than one crore population, has emerged as the top performer while Meghalaya as the best performer,” Bhagat said.

In a landmark achievement in the field of Very Large Scale Integration (VLSI) of microchips and manufacturing, Bhat inaugurated Himalayan Chapter of Northern India in IIT, Jammu.

He said the new chapter would provide an opportunity for IIT, Jammu, to be the fulcrum in research on VLSI, being used extensively in all computing and control devices like mobiles, cameras, automobiles and drones.

The Northern Chapter shall cater to all Universities, Research and Development Institutions, IITs, NITs and IISc of states like J&K, Leh, Himachal Pradesh and others to engage in the research and joint programmes, the official said.

Terming start-ups as game changer towards economic growth, the Commissioner Secretary said the government is determined to provide incubation and seed funding support to brilliant ideas and solutions.

“Our aim is to build a strong ecosystem for nurturing innovation and start-ups in J&K and the synergies between industrial and academic establishments which will encourage and empower young innovators and boost private investment in start-ups,” he said.

In this direction, Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was also signed between the J&K Science, Technology & Innovation Council, a scientific organization under the aegis of Science & Technology Department, Government of Jammu & Kashmir and Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Jammu.