SKUAST-K Innovation, Incubation, and Entrepreneurship (SKIIE) Centre marked a significant milestone with its inaugural board of directors meeting convened on Thursday at the Discovery Building in the Shalimar campus. The gathering, attended by key board members such as Prof Azmat Alam Khan, OSD to Vice Chancellor, SKUAST-K, Dr Farhet A Shaheen, associate professor, School of Agriculture Economics, SKUAST-K, and Naveed Hamid, Chief Executive Officer of SKIIE Centre, among others, aimed to chart the future course of action and approve the work agenda as per the mandate.
The SKIIE Centre, operating as a Section 8 company of SKUAST-K, enjoys support from the Department of Sciences and Technology (DST), Government of India, under the Inclusive Technology Business Incubation (iTBI) National Initiative For Developing And Harnessing Innovations (NIDHI) scheme. This support is geared towards cultivating an environment of innovation and entrepreneurship among students, faculties, entrepreneurs, and the local communities.
Naveed Hamid, CEO of SKIIE Centre, led the meeting proceedings, providing insights into the status and progress made in the realm of incubation and startups. He highlighted the innovative strategies implemented by SKIIE Centre, leading to its recognition as the top player in innovation and entrepreneurship, as reflected in the rankings released by DST J&K UT among all universities in J&K UT.
The DST team commended SKIIE Centre’s initiative to establish sustainable models for the incubator and entrusted the responsibility to CEO Naveed Hamid for newly sanctioned incubators in the Kashmir region, emphasizing the need to streamline their incubation activities.
Chaired by Prof Azmat Alam, the BoD meeting saw an appreciation of the university’s achievements in innovation, incubation, and entrepreneurship through the support of SKIIE Centre. The meeting concluded with a vote of thanks from Dr Farhet A Shaheen.
Following the board meeting, the DST team, led by Dr Praveen Roy, engaged with Prof Nazir Ahmad Ganai, Vice Chancellor of SKUAST-K. During the interaction, Prof Ganai briefed the DST team on the measures taken to position SKUAST-K as the country’s foremost innovation-led farm university.
