The Meghalaya government is all set to start the Smart Village initiative and at least 100 villages will be selected for implementation of the project. This was informed by Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma while attending a session on the Smart Village Movement organised by the University of Berkeley in California on September 27th, 2019.
Smart Village is a community empowered by Digital Technologies and Open Innovation platforms to Access Global Market. The movement was designed and developed by Professor Solomon Darwin.
The movement is an Open Innovation approach that integrates technology and indigenous rural practices to generate sustainable revenue for the constituents, thus increasing the overall standard of living and quality of life, simultaneously creating economic, social, and environmental value.
Professor Solomon Darwin and his team come up with a presentation which showcased on the idea of smart villages and the experiments done elsewhere. Professor Darwin said that through the initiative they work on intervention for the prosperity of the community through business model innovation approach, generating sustainable and scalable business models to provide a holistic development of the villages.
Professor Darwin along with few students had visited Meghalaya in June last. The students from the University had taken up various challenges the state faces and came up with innovative ideas to solve the problem.
Chief Minister paid attention to every single problem ranging from health, water to promoting tourism to take Meghalaya to the world stage. The partnership with the University is planned for five years where Professor Darwin and the smart village team will be committed to making the selected villages in Meghalaya smarter.
Students posed queries to Chief Minister which he addressed. He also promised to be in touch with young students through email and social media.
Photo credit: @SangmaConrad
