Centres of Excellence

JECP groups its sector work into seven Centres of Excellence, aimed at Tier 2 and Tier 3 districts with an early focus on eastern Uttar Pradesh. Each has a named chairperson and each is built on the same three pillars: innovation across value chains, 7M incubation support with a focus on women and youth, and development programmes run with the private sector, philanthropy and government. There is no separate application — you reach a centre through the incubation programme, so say which sector you are in.

The seven centres

• Women CoE, chaired by Vanita Viswanath — runs the Tech Shakti and Tech Shakti Sri programmes, with three pillars it calls Shakti for Enterprise, Confidence with Culture and Digital for Dignity
• Bioregional CoE, chaired by Dr Rajiv B Lall and supported by Rainmatter Foundation — runs the Green Enterprise Development Program across sustainable agriculture, climate and health, biodiversity, green infrastructure and local economies
• Digital CoE, chaired by Shoaib Ahmed and supported by Zoho, launched April 2023 — helps small firms adopt technology
• Handicrafts and Apparel CoE, chaired by Dr Toolika Gupta — works terracotta, moonj and banana fibre in Deoria, Kushinagar and Gorakhpur
• Agro CoE, chaired by Hemendra Mathur — incubates farmer producer companies and runs green skills, digital and financial literacy training
• Healthcare CoE, chaired by Annaswamy Vaidheesh — early stage, focused on non-communicable and communicable disease, women and child health and mental health
• Rural Urbanization CoE, chaired by Manish Agarwal — early stage, focused on energy access, mobility, sustainable construction and waste

How to apply: through the JECP Incubation Program form; there is no separate route to a centre.