Dr Madan Mohan Tripathi addressing Innovation NE Week: Tech age & Digital Transformation at NIELIT Kohima on May 26. (Morung Photo)
NIELIT & Tata Electronics partner for semiconductor skilling
Our Correspondent
Kohima | May 26
The National Institute of Electronics & Information Technology (NIELIT) Vice Chancellor & Director General Dr Madan Mohan Tripathi informed that the Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (MeitY) is committed to fostering inclusive and equitable growth in the digital domain across all regions of the country.
“For the Northeastern states, MeitY has taken deliberate steps to ensure that the region is not left behind in the digital revolution,” Dr Tripathi said while addressing the inaugural programme of “Innovation NE Week: Tech Age & Digital Transformation” at NIELIT Kohima on May 26.
Be it through infrastructure development, entrepreneurship support, or digital skilling, our vision is to bridge regional disparities and unlock the full innovation potential of this culturally rich and strategically important region, he said.
As the capacity-building and skilling arm of MeitY, NIELIT has been playing a pivotal role in building the human capital required for India's digital economy, he said.
He said that a landmark achievement for NIELIT has been its recent recognition as a Deemed-to-be University, underlining its growing academic and research stature.
This makes NIELIT the one of its kind institution in the country that offers a complete continuum from digital skilling to advanced research under one national framework in emerging.
Recently, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between NIELIT and Tata Electronics Private Limited (TEPL) to strengthen the semiconductor skilling ecosystem in India, with a focus on training and educating youth from the Northeastern region for employment in the Assembly, Testing, Marking, and Packaging (ATMP) semiconductor plant coming up in Jagiroad, Assam.
NIELIT Centre in North East
Dr Tripathi said the NIELIT Centres in the Northeastern region have been actively advancing skilling, capacity-building, and technical education initiatives in alignment with the Government of India’s vision, supported by several MeitY-sponsored projects.
Among them, NIELIT Kohima has taken a lead role in executing key initiatives, making significant contributions to project implementation across the Northeastern States.
He said that over 1.71 lakhs individuals have been trained/ skilled across various segments of society including Govt and School teachers over the past three years under MeitY-supported North East Capacity Building 2.0 (Startup catalyst).827.
A focused effort has also been made to build entrepreneurial ecosystems across the Northeastern region.
One such initiative is the Northeast Startup Catalyst Program, implemented by NIELIT, which successfully skilled, mentored, and supported 25 startups from the region.
“These startups received not only training in core business practices but also mentorship from industry leaders, exposure to investors, and guidance on leveraging emerging technologies,” Dr. Tripathi said.
Few of these startups have already achieved early-stage success, and this event is a celebration of their journey and achievements, he said.
‘NE youths have immense potential in ITs and services sectors’
Nagaland IT & C commissioner & Secretary Dr G Hukugha Sema maintained that North East youths have immense potential in ITs and services sectors.
For this, he said all the stakeholders have gathered in this three day event to deliberate the way forward
Stating that the idea of innovation is always there in human history, he said, “We have to innovate, we have to adapt and we have to change.”
Talking on Artificial Intelligence (AI), he said that Govt of India has launched India AI Mission 2024 and allocated a budget of Rs 10,300 crore for AI Capacity Building, building ecosystems, also empowering startup and other technological infrastructure.
Dr Sema said that Govt of Nagaland is very much aware of the potential transformative power of AI and technology tools.
He said that NE has been contributing a lot to the digital economy, especially call centres, BPOs and other service sectors.
For the last 30 years, 10% of the workforce in the BPOs, call centres and service sectors are from NE, he said.
NE arrived on India Innovation Map
Vaibhav Jain, VC & Startup Relationships, Google India asserted that North East can continue to build roads, airports, railways, factories “but the real foundation of growth is human capital.”
Stating that North East is no longer emerging, Jain said “It (NE) is arrived on India innovation map.”
S. Krishnan, secretary MeitY and Tulika Pandey, Sc- G & Group coordinator, MeitY, Govt of India also joined the event through virtual speech.
Amit Mishra, VC & startup relationships, YOTTA India and Santosh Kumar, National Chairman YLC AIMA also addressed the inaugural function.
The inaugural function also witnessed exchange of MoU, North East Startup catalyst certificate award ceremony, startup exhibition.
Earlier, Dr. Tripathi said that Innovation-NE Week provides a comprehensive platform where Startups connect with industry leaders and investors, government officials explore real-world AI and cyber security applications and students participate in workshops, ideation challenges, and Pitchathons.
This holistic format is a model for future engagements—where policy, innovation, and talent converge, he said.
He hoped that the Innovation NE Week will spark new collaborations, scale impactful ideas, and accelerate the digital transformation journey of the Northeast.
“Let us continue to work together to build a digitally empowered India—where opportunity is inclusive, innovation is encouraged, and technology is transformative,” he added.
This three-day event is an important platform for knowledge sharing, startup showcasing, and ecosystem building, bringing together government officials, industry leaders, entrepreneurs, students, and academic institutions, he said.
“Let us make Innovation-NE Week 2025 a true turning point one where we celebrate innovation, inspire collaboration, and take decisive steps toward our shared goal of a Digitally Empowered Northeast,” said L. Lanuwabang, Director NIELIT Kohima.
Stating that NIELIT has always believed in inclusiveness and impact-driven collaboration, he said “This three-day event has been thoughtfully designed as an inclusive and collaborative platform, bringing together government officials, industry leaders, entrepreneurs, startups, students, and youth from across the Northeastern States.”
The Innovation NE Week is supported by MeitY and organised by Department of IT&C, Startup Nagaland under Department of Industry and Commerce, Government of Nagaland, to build a digitally inclusive and innovation-driven Northeast.
Through this three day event, 25 startups from all eight North Eastern states will graduate and present innovations across sectors-AgriTech, HealthTech, Cybersecurity, Green Energy, and Cloud solutions.
The event will also feature a high-level Government Al & Cybersecurity Track to equip senior officials with insights on emerging tech applications in governance.
The week will also include curated panel discussions, pitch training workshops, exhibition walk-throughs, networking sessions and MoU dialogues to unlock regional collaboration and new business frontiers.
The event will continue till May 28.
