Onlykashmir.in News Desk
Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology of Kashmir (SKUAST-K) has been awarded the prestigious Empowering Youth for Undertaking Value Added Innovative Translational Research (E-YUVA) Centre by the Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC), Government of India.
The proposal for the E-YUVA Centre was submitted by the SKUAST-K Innovation, Incubation & Entrepreneurship Centre (SKIIE Centre) a few months ago. Following a rigorous evaluation and pitching round before the BIRAC panel, led by its CEO and committee members, the Centre was sanctioned. With this achievement, SKUAST-K becomes the third State Agricultural University (SAU) in India to secure an E-YUVA Centre, further strengthening its mission to empower young minds in the field of innovative translational research.
The E-YUVA scheme offers support in the form of fellowships, research grants, technical and business mentoring, exposure to bio-incubation models, and orientation towards an entrepreneurial culture. It is open to students across various academic levels — undergraduate, postgraduate, and post-doctoral — and supports innovation in diverse domains such as Agriculture, Secondary Agriculture, Waste Management, Sanitation, Clean Energy, Healthcare, Life Sciences, Diagnostics, Medical Devices, Drugs and Vaccines, Drug Formulations and Delivery Systems, Industrial Biotechnology, Bioinformatics, Artificial Intelligence, IoT, and Automation.
Principal Investigator and CEO of the SKIIE Centre remarked that the E-YUVA Centre will serve as a unique platform for thousands of researchers and scholars to transform their innovative ideas into viable business ventures — a true ‘earn while you learn’ opportunity. He added that under the leadership of the Hon’ble Vice Chancellor and with continuous guidance from university officials, the Centre aims to become one of the best E-YUVA Centres in the country.
Prof. Nazir Ahmad Ganai, Hon’ble Vice Chancellor of SKUAST-K, extended heartfelt congratulations to the SKIIE team and associated faculty for this remarkable achievement. He emphasized that while this recognition is commendable, it also brings a greater responsibility — to deliver on the objectives laid out by BIRAC and to advance SKUAST-K’s vision of innovation. Prof. Ganai reiterated that the Centre will play a vital role in translating research into commercially viable solutions, empowering young innovators in Jammu and Kashmir, and making them active contributors in building a “Viksit J&K”.
