Assam education minister Siddhartha Bhattacharya on Thursday visited Assam Startup – The Nest to meet the first cohort batch of startups incubated at the state-owned incubator.
Minister Bhattacharya took a round of the premise and expressed a keen interest in the incubated startups who have started utilizing the co-working space on offer at The Nest. Four incubated startups working in the education sector also made presentations before the Minister.
Addressing the august gathering, the Minister articulated his happiness about the initiative that is driven towards supporting the startups and enabling them to transform their brilliant ideas into successful ventures. He expressed great hope that Assam Startup – The Nest would continue with the same momentum and carry on the good work in future as well.
The Minister also informed about the new initiative taken by the Secondary Education Board of Assam (SEBA) to introduce skill-based subjects in school for a more career-oriented education and proposed to collaborate with Assam Startup – The Nest towards the objective.
As the implementing partner, the IIM Calcutta Innovation Park has played the lead role in evaluating the applications and finalizing the final list of startups for incubation. Over the next six months, the IIMCIP will pick up the baton to mentor and design capacity building programs for the selected startups and connect them with crucial networks.
The Minister was accompanied by senior officials, including Ravi Capoor, Additional Chief Secretary, Industries and Commerce; Maninder Singh, Principal Secretary, Education Department; Meenakshi Sundaram, Commissioner and Secretary, Industries and Commerce; Manjula Saikia Bhuyan, Additional Secretary, Industries and Commerce and MD, AIIDC and Pranjal Konwar, COO, of the Nest. Chairman of SEBA, Ramesh Chand Jain was also present on the occasion.