Atal Innovation Mission to be continued till March 2023

The Union Cabinet of India recently on 8th April 2022 approved the continuation of the Atal Innovation Mission (also known as AIM) for one more year. The motive behind the extension of the programme till the year 2023 is to ensure maximum success records after completion of the AIM programme.

What is Atal Innovation Mission?

Atal Innovation Mission is a flagship initiative started in the year 2016 by the Union Cabinet of India to lay out new innovative policies for development purposes and to promote a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship in the country. The AIM programme in accordance with the Finance Minister’s budget for 2015 has been under the supervision of the NITI Aayog. It focuses on the implementation of infrastructure development and the formation of institutions all across 34 states and union territories of the country.

Objectives of Atal Innovation Mission

Atal Innovation Mission is encouraging the youth of the nation in multiple ways right from the beginning. With a belief that when more people will get engaged in the innovations, the more will the nation move toward sustainable development and growth. The stakeholders associated with Atal Innovation Mission are trying their best to develop a problem-solving and innovative mindset in schools and create an ecosystem of entrepreneurship in universities, research institutions, and private and MSME sectors.

Atal Innovation Mission: Key Initiatives

Under this mission, the government of India has launched and worked on various programmes to cover the major sections of the country, which can help the nation grow in the coming days. Here is the list of key initiatives undertaken and the developments made to date in each programme.

Atal Tinkering Labs

Atal Tinkering Labs, also known as ATLs come with state-of-the-art facilities in the selected schools and the primary goal of such laboratories is to generate curiosity and innovation in young minds, specifically the students from classes 6th to 12th. It includes 21st-century tools and technologies such as the Internet of Things, 3D printing, rapid prototyping tools, robotics, miniaturized electronics, do-it-yourself kits, and many more.

The union cabinet has targeted setting up around 10,000 Atal Tinkering Labs in various parts of the country and has funded more than 7000 of them till now. The labs enabled more than 2 million students to get access to modern labs on their school premises.

Atal Incubation Centres

The Atal Incubation Centres (AICs) are world-class incubators developed at universities. Institutions and corporates among others. The primary goal of such centres is to foster and support world-class innovation, and dynamic entrepreneurs who want to build scalable and sustainable enterprises.

As per reports, they have successfully developed more than 68 fully operational Atal Incubation Centres with universities/ institutions/ private players. And they have supported over 1800 startups to date, out of which around 500 are women-led startups, which in return have generated 15,000+ jobs in the ecosystem.

Atal Community Innovation Centres

The third initiative under Atal Innovation Mission is Atal Community Innovation Centres (ACIC), and these centres help to promote the benefits of technology-led innovations, specifically in Tier 2, Tier 3 cities, aspirational districts, and tribal, hilly, and coastal areas of the country. The Atal Community Innovation Centres are set up in a unique partnership-driven model, where the Atal Innovation Mission grants upto Rs 2.5 crores to an ACIC subject to a partner proving equal or greater matching funding.

Atal New India Challenges

The aim of Atal New India Challenges is to create a greater impact on product and service innovations. Atal Innovation Mission has partnered with various departments and ministries of the country and has tried to identify the best performers around with the help of the Atal New India Challenges. They are then provided with aid support and guided by Incubators/ mentors of the mission for more growth.

ARISE ANIC challenges

The union government through the Atal Innovation Mission has also tried to promote the MSME/ Startup sector of the country. And to do so, they have launched 15 ARISE-ANIC challenges along with partner Ministries to improve research capabilities in the startup and MSME ecosystem. Here, all the best ideas are converted to viable innovative prototypes followed by product development and commercial deployment.

Mentor India – The Mentors of Change

The last initiative under Atal India Mission is a mentor engagement and management program, where the registrations have been received via the AIM INNONET portal and authorities have helped the people to get connected with ATLs and AICs around. This gave them an opportunity to work on and get gain more learning experiences from eminent mentors.

For more Education news and updates, click here.