Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India (EDII), a renowned national resource entrepreneurship education, research, and training will provide entrepreneurship support to more than 7,000 youth in 40 aspirational districts under the aegis of Department of Science & Technology (DST), National Science & Technology Entrepreneurship Development Board (NSTEDB), Government of India.
115 aspirational districts have been identified by Government of India for rapid transformation, sustainable development and growth in the areas of nutrition, education, health, skill development and entrepreneurship amongst others. For promoting science & technology entrepreneurship, EDII has been selected as the national resource agency for 40 districts out of total 115 identified by the Government.
Emphasizing on the role of entrepreneurship in sustainable development, Dr Sunil Shukla, Director, EDII said, “Entrepreneurship has been visualized as one of the strategic development intervention to accelerate the socio-economic development process of underdeveloped areas. For sustainable growth and development, there is a need to inculcate the spirit of entrepreneurship amongst local youth. Through this project, our aim is to mentor a new generation of job creators in the hinterland of India.”
Under the project, entrepreneurship sensitization and development programmes will be organized for potential entrepreneurs of the selected aspirational districts having an urge to set up micro/small innovative business opportunities. In each of 40 districts, 3 such programmes, each with around 60 participants will be conducted over the nine-month duration.
EDII has generated employment for over 60,000 persons in the field of Science & Technology field in the last five years. EDII has trained and sensitized over 5 lakh youth towards entrepreneurship from 2013-14 till 2017-18, under Department of Science & Technology (DST)-National Implementing and Monitoring Agency for Training (NIMAT) project. EDII is the national implementing agency for this project.