Union Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology through its Common Services Center (CSC) has tied up with Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi to promote innovation among the Village-Level Entrepreneurs (VLEs) associated with the government. As part of the initiative undertaken by IIT Delhi, it will provide required resources and knowledge to help doing innovations at the grassroot level. The main aim of this new project is to conduct research activities targeted at enhancing the overall entrepreneurial scope of village dwellers. The entire project has been named as Design and Innovation in VLE's Indigenous Network Ecosystem (DIVINE).
The CSC and IIT Delhi signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to set up a design and innovation laboratory at the Department of Design, IIT Delhi for conducting design-led innovations to help the village entrepreneurs. The Institute will also provide digital content and new education courses for developing required skills at VLEs. DIVINE laboratories will conduct research projects upon the rural entrepreneurial ecosystem and design required products and services.
Dr Dinesh Tyagi, Managing Director, CSC SPV gave details about the project as he said, “The Common Services Centres and the Village Level Entrepreneurs are driven by an entrepreneurial spirit. They are adaptive, based on the local community environment, they work on digital connectivity in areas with limited access, they also solve problems on a day-to-day basis for a diverse range of customers or citizens. The Design Lab will benefit from IIT Delhi's unparalleled expertise and experiences of hardened and creative VLEs”.
The project will specifically target infrastructurally poor areas by building the last mile connectivity and increasing digital literacy.
Professor V Ramgopal Rao, Director, IIT Delhi said that the project will build opportunities for rural connect for IIT Delhi students.
