Guwahati, a city in North East India, is a quickly developing tech and commercial hub.
According to reports, the largest technology park in the North East has been set up in Bongara, about 2,000 kilometres from Guwahati. The park will house international companies and be an innovation centre for technologies like AI, robotics, solar PV, photonics, quantum dot nanocrystals, smart meter, and IoT.
Industry experts have said that IT parks are coming up in the region and technology adoption is accelerating, although the scale is not as large as in metropolitan and tier-I cities.
How the government built a sturdy technology infrastructure has defined how technology is implemented and enhanced in the city.
The government has launched several tech projects like the state data centre, state portal, SWF by e-Prastuti, Assam Wide Area Network, CSCs (Common Service Centres), e-Assam, and the all-Assam encompassing project, the National Register of Citizens of India (NRC). These have propelled technology adoption in the city.
Private and public sectors have been working together to develop the scope of technologies in the region. Several e-government projects have sprung up recently, the NRC was a giant project that involved private sector innovation and government implementation. An infosystems company digitised data for millions of people with its software solutions and enabled a phonetic-based search.
There are many solution developers in the state that builds solutions, applications, and technologies like JAVA and blockchain and have a substantial demand in the global market as well.
The government has launched Digital North East 2022, a landmark technology initiative under Digital India. It identifies eight key areas: digital infrastructure; digital services; promotion of electronics manufacturing; digital empowerment; promotion of IT and ITes (including BPOs, digital payments, and start-ups); and cybersecurity.
The initiative’s vision document highlights the need to leveraging digital technologies to transform the lives of people in the North East and develop the standard of living.
The government plans to implement a cloud hub in Guwahati. It will also have capacity building training for 50,000 government staff to improve digital skills, including goods and services tax, and payment platforms.
Further, the number of seats planned for BPOs in the North Eastern states will be doubled to 10,000, while the network of common service centres will be expanded to cover all villages. High-speed broadband connectivity in all villages in the region will also be provided.
The Software Technology Parks of India (STPI) Guwahati; the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY); and the Ministry for Development of North Eastern Region (Ministry of DoNER) are collaborating to establish a Centre of Excellence for each headquarter of different states for technologies.
There is a range of tech initiatives that have been set up under the Digital North East project. These include IoT for agriculture in Guwahati, IT in healthcare in Gangtok, data analytics in Agartala, and gaming in Aiwzal. Also, augmented reality and virtual reality in Imphal, graphic designing in Kohima, drone applications in Itanagar, and animation in Meghalaya.
