Through its Common Services Center (CSC), the Union Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has partnered with the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi to promote innovation among government-related Village-Level Entrepreneurs (VLEs). As part of IIT Delhi's initiative, it will provide the requisite tools and expertise to help innovate at the grassroots level. The main objective of this new project is to carry out research activities aimed at improving the village dwellers' overall entrepreneurial scope. 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, and 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 infrastructural 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.
