"Nagaland will be number one soon in Northeast region in terms of IT entrepreneurship": STPI Kohima Additional Director

Kohima (Nagaland) [India], January 27 : Nagaland's first and India's 61st Software Technology Park of India (STPI) centre, inaugurated in September 2021 has been witnessing immense development, with several enthusiast entrepreneurs and start-ups building their careers.
STPI was held by Union Minister of State (MoS) for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, Electronics and IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar at the Directorate of Information Technology and Communication (DITC) on September 17, 2021.
According to the officials, the STPI Kohima is one of the eight sub-centres of the STPI Directorate at Guwahati.
Talking to ANI on Saturday at the office of Software Technology Park of India, Kohima, Additional Director and Officer-in-charge, Abhishek Mishra said that the facility came up in association with the Department of Information Technology and Communication of Nagaland, having approximately 20,000 square feet in two floors, equipped with 200-seater facility for plug and play incubation for start-ups and approximately two thousand square feet area for Raw incubations.
Mishra also said that three companies are using the facilities at the STPI Kohima with a nominal charge as a rental, another three units have also used the facility for plug-and-play and have graduated.
"STPI Kohima Centre has IT applications and graphic design, high-end equipment like the 3D printer, VR headset, gaming facility, high-end laptops, as well as graphic tablets and podcast facility," he said, adding that the STPI Gauhati Directorate has also thrown an open challenge programme to the start-ups where they are selected.
He also said that IT entrepreneurs, start-ups, and MSMEs can participate and that the STPI will provide plug and play facility and lab facility in this area of Nagaland, the remotest part of the country.
"We provide funding on a tranche basis based on milestones achieved by the startups up to 25 lakhs. STPI is holding many events at the Gauhati level, pan-India, and also in collaboration with partners abroad for cross-border collaboration. The STPI Kohima is ready to launch another open challenge programme in the month of March 2024 and called upon start-ups and entrepreneurs to participate," Mishra said.
The officer-in-charge also stated that the good thing about Nagaland is its fluency in speaking English, which is very suitable for the IT industry.
He added that he has seen growth in terms of start-ups and over the last eight months, has seen organisations like STPI, NEILIT Startup, and other departments working very hard.
"I can see the IT calendar of Nagaland is very good," Mishra said exuding hope that Nagaland state will soon be number one in the Northeast region in terms of IT entrepreneurship.
Mishra also highlighted that there are challenges in the IT sector as the state of Nagaland doesn't have the IT education nor engineering college and cannot compete with the global world, and poor connectivity in other districts unlike Dimapur. However, the STPI decided to come out with the programme to nurture how to start the journey as an entrepreneur or start-up.
Further, Abhishek Mishra encouraged the start-ups in Nagaland to keep pace with the global competitors and learn entrepreneurial skills first, as challenges like Artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning and the internet are required for the future.
"We should be future-ready entrepreneurs," he further said.
The establishment of the STPI-Kohima Centre is a joint effort of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Government of India, and Government of Nagaland, a step forward to facilitate and support IT/ITeS industry, tech MSMEs, startups, budding entrepreneurs, and innovators of the state.