IIE-NEC Incubation Centre at Nagaland University

Before you apply

• Check whether a batch is open. The centre has completed one 6-month batch and has not published a new call. Write to the centre's email to ask when the next intake opens.
• Know who it is for. It is aimed at student and youth founders, from inside or outside Nagaland University. The first batch came from four North Eastern states.

What to expect from the programme

• A bootcamp, then online classes. The first batch started with a 3-day residential bootcamp at IIE Guwahati and then attended 32 online sessions across 16 chapters, 64 hours in all.
• A full founder curriculum. Sessions run from ideation and market validation to MVP design, compliance, bookkeeping, go-to-market, fundraising and financial projections.
• A pitch at the end. The batch pitched online to experts empanelled by IIE.

How selection works

• The first batch was chosen by the Entrepreneurship Development Centres set up under the IIE and NEC project. The criteria are not published.
• Come with an early idea or prototype you can talk about and time to attend sessions regularly.

How to reach the centre

• Email incubation.kohima@nagalanduniversity.ac.in for the incubation centre.
• Email edckohima@nagalanduniversity.ac.in for questions about the campus Entrepreneurship Development Centre.

The IIE-NEC Incubation Centre at Nagaland University is an incubation centre on the university's Kohima campus at Meriema, Kohima, Nagaland. It is hosted by the Department of Management, sponsored by the North Eastern Council (NEC), Shillong, and set up through the Indian Institute of Entrepreneurship (IIE), Guwahati, which acts as the project's nodal agency. Nagaland University is one of four incubation centres in the North Eastern region under this project.

What it runs today

The centre has run one cohort so far. Its first 6-month incubation programme ran from 28 July 2025 to 7 January 2026 and was delivered mostly online. It began with a 3-day residential bootcamp at IIE Guwahati. From 19 September 2025 the incubatees attended 32 online sessions covering 16 chapters, 64 hours in all. The topics follow a founder's path: design thinking and ideation, market research and validation, customer persona and value proposition, business model canvas, intellectual property and startup compliance basics, minimum viable product design, prototype development, go-to-market strategy, legal, tax and regulatory compliance, accounts and bookkeeping, sales and early traction, growth and branding, ESG and impact, fundraising and investor readiness, and financial projections. The programme ended with online pitching sessions on 7 and 8 January 2026, judged by experts empanelled by IIE.

The sessions were taught by a mix of Nagaland University faculty, faculty from other institutions, a banker, a scientist from NIELIT Kohima, chartered accountants and founders and managers from industry.

Who can apply

The centre says it is designed for student and youth startup founders from both within and outside the university. The first batch was selected through a process run by the Entrepreneurship Development Centres set up under the same project, and the incubatees came from Nagaland, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur. A total of 44 beneficiaries were selected at the start: 18 from Nagaland, 16 from Arunachal Pradesh, 6 from Assam and 4 from Manipur. Of these, 35 attended the bootcamp. The page does not publish selection criteria, an application form or a date for the next batch, so treat the centre as closed to new applicants until it announces one.

Space and plans

The centre works from a dedicated space of around 600 square feet on campus, in the university's Library Building. Its page says it is still equipping itself with assets, technology and operating funds. It plans a furnished co-working space and a Fab Lab with design software, hardware toolkits, a 3D printer and a small 5-axis CNC machine, and a pipeline of seminars, idea competitions, hackathons, three-month boot camps, investor pitch meets, demo days and mentoring on intellectual property and government schemes. These are plans, not facilities you can use today.

The campus Entrepreneurship Development Centre

Nagaland University's Kohima campus also hosts an Entrepreneurship Development Centre under the same IIE and NEC project. It runs entrepreneurship awareness camps, entrepreneurship development programmes and a faculty development programme, and is a way to meet the centre before a batch opens. Questions about it go to the EDC's own inbox.

Who runs it

Two Assistant Professors in the Department of Management, Nagaland University, Kohima Campus lead the centre: Dr. Dhrubajyoti Bordoloi as Coordinator and Dr. Ditalak Mpanme as Joint Coordinator. The centre is part of the university and has no separate company of its own. Its funding comes through the NEC and the IIE project, and its page does not state any DPIIT, DST or Atal Innovation Mission recognition.

Location and contact

Kohima Campus, Meriema, Kohima 797004, Nagaland. The centre's email is incubation.kohima@nagalanduniversity.ac.in.