Why in news:

• Jammu and Kashmir has emerged as the top performer among the Union Territories and north-eastern states in the ranking of ‘states on support to startup ecosystems’.

Key Points:

• In the past few years, 84 startups had been established in Jammu and Kashmir.  In this regard, the states and the Union Territories have been classified into five categories, including best performers, top performers, leaders, aspiring leaders and emerging startup ecosystems.
• Jammu and Kashmir, which has been clubbed with UTs and the north-eastern states including those having less than one crore population, has emerged as the top performer while Meghalaya as the best performer.
• In a landmark achievement in the field of very large scale integration (VLSI) of microchips and manufacturing, Himalayan Chapter of Northern India in IIT, Jammu was inaugurated. The new chapter would provide an opportunity for IIT, Jammu, to be the fulcrum in research on VLSI, being used extensively in all computing and control devices like mobiles, cameras, automobiles and drones.
• According to the concerned officials, the northern chapter shall cater to all universities, research and development institutions, IITs, NITs and IISc of states like J&K, Leh, Himachal Pradesh and others to engage in the research and joint programmes.
• Terming startups as game changer towards economic growth, the Commissioner Secretary said the government was determined to provide incubation and seed funding support to brilliant ideas and solutions.
• In this regard, the administration has stated that its aim is to build a strong ecosystem for nurturing innovation and startups in Jammu and Kashmir and the synergies between industrial and academic establishments which will encourage and empower young innovators and boost private investment in start-ups.
• Notably, in this direction, a memorandum of understanding (MoU) was also signed between the Jammu and Kashmir Science, Technology & Innovation Council, a scientific organisation under the aegis of Science & Technology Department, Government of J&K and Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Jammu.