An 'Idea Presentation Seminar' was organised at NEHU, Tura Campus

---

Date: Oct 11, 2022

An ‘Idea Presentation Seminar’ was organised jointly by Branch MSME-DFO, Tura, Ministry of MSME, Govt of India, and BIRAC BioNEST Bioincubator (B3I) Facility, NEHU, Tura on October 11, 2022 at NEHU, Tura Campus in view of the ongoing call for proposal titled ‘MSME Idea Hackathon 2.0’. A total of 33 enthusiastic in-house participants including students, research scholars and faculty members from different academic departments of NEHU, Tura campus joined the program. Dr. B.K Mishra, Head, Department of Rural Development and Agricultural Production (RDAP) and Project Investigator, BioNEST Bioincubator Facilty, NEHU, Tura campus had warmly welcomed the gathering and presented the news of securing Host Institute status by NEHU, Tura campus from Ministry of Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises, Government of India. Dr. Sujata Gurudev, Campus-in-Charge, NEHU, Tura Campus, Meghalaya detailed the objective of the program and emphasized building and promoting a culture of innovation within the campus. Dr Gurudev had also expressed her joy on obtaining the host institute status and voiced her faith in the finest minds of the campus in submitting multiple ideas to the Idea Hackathon 2.0. Shri Nilesh Trivedi, Assistant Director, Branch of MSME-DFO, Tura briefed the initiatives of MSME, the sectors and schemes under MSME, the benefits of UDYAM Registration and other opportunities available through MSME. Mr. Trivedi elaborately explained the categories of eligible candidates for Idea Hackathon namely, students, MSME & others; the specific themes of the Idea Hackathon, evaluation process for approval of Ideas through HI, and the Financial Assistance to HI for prototyping the incubatee ideas and capital funding for setting up the instrumentation facility. In the last session, Dr Suman Kumar Nandy, Chief Executive Officer, BioNEST Facility highlighted the handholding program provided by the facility to transform an innovative idea into a sustainable and profitable business and ongoing funding schemes available in B3I Facility. Dr. Nandy had also discussed the objectives of MSME Innovative scheme, different sectors of HI 2.0 and clarified the budget allocation. He had also given a quick view of the Biotechnology Ignition Grant for the North Eastern Region (BIG-NER), its eligibility criteria and the funding opportunities. Both the sessions were followed by elaborate, interactive and informative doubt clearing sessions. The program ended with concluding remarks & vote of thanks from Dr. Arindam Barman, Assistant Professor, Department of Horticulture, NEHU, Tura Campus.