Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Science & Technology; Minister of State (Independent Charge) Earth Sciences; MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh today called for Mentorship and Partnerships with Public, Private sector, NGOs, Academia and Institutions to promote a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship in the country.
Speaking at the MHLC Meeting on Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) in NITI Aayog, after the launch of Incubator Assessment Framework, Dr. Jitendra Singh said, AIM has taken a holistic approach to ensure creation of a problem-solving innovative mindset in schools and creating an ecosystem of entrepreneurship in universities, research institutions, private and MSME sector.
Dr Jitendra Singh said, to promote creation of a supporting ecosystem for start-ups and entrepreneurs, AIM has been establishing world class incubators called Atal Incubation Centers (AICS) in universities. Institutions, Corporate, etc that would foster world class innovative start-ups and become scalable and sustainable enterprises. He informed that 69 AICS have been operationalized which have produced 2900 plus startups till date and the remaining 32 AICS will be operationalized by Mar 2023.
Dr Jitendra Singh underlined that to promote the benefits of technology led innovation to the unserved/underserved regions of India including Tier 2, Tier 3 cities, aspirational districts, tribal, hilly and coastal areas, AIM is setting up Atal Community Innovation Centers(ACIC) with a unique partnership driven model wherein AIM would grant up to Rs 2.5 crores to an ACIC subject to a partner proving equal or greater matching funding. He said that till date, 14 ACICs have been established startups. across the country which are incubating 10 The target of establishing 50+ ACICs will be achieved by March 2023.
Dr Jitendra Singh said that over the last 6 years, AIM has launched the establishment of Atal Tinkering Labs enabling students from grade 6 to grade 12 to have access to and tinker with innovative tools and technologies like 3D printers, robotics, miniaturized electronics do it yourself kits thus stimulating a problem- solving innovative mindset to solve problems in around the community they are in. He further added that Atal Tinkering Labs are being established in schools nationwide with 10,000 operational in 700 districts and over 7.5 million students having access to ATLS. AIM shall also be establishment of 10,000 new ATLS in Jammu & Kashmir, Ladakh, North-eastern states, Aspirational Districts, Himalayan and Island territories, the Minister added.
Referring to the Atal New India Challenge program, Dr Jitendra Singh said, it aims to suck, select, support and nurture technology-based innovations that solve sectoral challenges of national importance and societal relevance. The vision of the Atal New India Challenge (ANIC) is two-fold to help create products from existing technologies that solve problems of national importance and societal relevance (productization) and to help new solutions find markets and early customers (commercialization) in the context of India.
The primary goal of the ANIC program is to incentivize innovations in areas critical to India’s development and Growth-Education, Health, Water and Sanitation, Agriculture, Food Processing, Housing, Energy, Mobility, Space Application etc.
The winner start-ups/MSMEs are supported through a tranche-based funding of up to INR 1 crore and incubation support through AIM’s innovation network over a duration of 18-24 months
Mandate: support 200 start-ups / MSMEs
Achieved: supported 50 start-ups
In Process: selection of 82 start-ups done and application process on-going for further 68 start-ups
Dr Jitendra Singh pointed out that to enable all the initiatives to succeed AIM has launched one of the largest mentor engagement and management program “Mentor India – The mentors of Change”. To date AIM has over 10000+ registrations nationwide on the AIM iNNONET portal with 4000+ of them allocated to ATLS and AICS.
The Minister underscored the importance of the following programs that are proposed like a program that engages the Industry Upfront in activities like acceleration is vital, where Industry can map the sector, tell us what are the gaps, and we work together to engage startups, a program to brand Indian innovations internationally is important. One good example is Proposal made by us. PPP+PPP. Where governments on both sides engage their respective private sectors. We need more of such models, the missing piece in science-based entrepreneurship is the commercialization of the output. Any successful and replicable models we can arrive at here will help us move forward, Vernacular Innovation Program is important because many creative people of our country do not get a chance because of the language barrier. That being said, the program needs to be practical and result-oriented, we also need a program to document to journeys of the innovators. Today, many scientists who set out to become entrepreneurs may succeed or fail, but we don’t have a way to learn from their journeys.
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