The Union Cabinet has approved the continuation of the Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) until March 2023.
Context
The Union Cabinet has approved the continuation of the Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) until March 2023.
Key-Points
- A total budgeted expenditure of Rs 2,000 crore plus will be incurred in the establishment and support of the beneficiaries.
- The AIM’s goals are to foster an ecosystem of innovation and entrepreneurship across the country through interventions at the school, university, research, MSME, and industry levels.
- The AIM has concentrated on both infrastructural development and institution formation.
- AIM’s stated goals include developing 10,000 Atal Tinkering Labs (ATLs), 101 Atal Incubation Centres (AICs), and sponsoring 200 entrepreneurs through the Atal New India Challenges.
- The AIM programmes, which span 34 states and union territories, are aimed at maximising India’s demographic dividend by encouraging more engagement in the innovation ecosystem.
What is Atal Innovation Mission (AIM)?
- Atal Innovation Mission is an initiative by the NITI Aayog.
- It is a flagship program to promote innovation and entrepreneurship in the country keeping in mind the innovation and entrepreneurial needs of India in the years ahead.
- AIM is also envisaged as an umbrella innovation organization that would play an instrumental role in the alignment of innovation policies between central, state and sectoral innovation schemes incentivizing the establishment and promotion of an ecosystem of innovation and entrepreneurship at various levels – higher secondary schools, science, engineering and higher academic institutions, and SME/MSME industry, corporate and NGO levels.
AIM Major Initiatives
- Atal Tinkering Labs: Creating problem solving mindset across schools in India.
- Atal Incubation Centers: Fostering world class startups and adding a new dimension to the incubator model.
- Atal New India Challenges: Fostering product innovations and aligning them to the needs of various sectors/ministries.
- Mentor India Campaign: A national mentor network in collaboration with the public sector, corporates and institutions, to support all the initiatives of the mission.
- Atal Community Innovation Center: To stimulate community centric innovation and ideas in the unserved /underserved regions of the country including Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities.
- Atal Research and Innovation for Small Enterprises (ARISE): To stimulate innovation and research in the MSME industry.
|
Objectives of AIM
- It aims to develop new programs and policies for fostering innovation in myriad sectors of the economy.
- It strives to provide platform and collaboration opportunities for different stakeholders, create awareness.
- It acts as an umbrella structure to oversee the innovation ecosystem of the country.
- Long term goals of AIM include-
- Establishment and promotion of Small Business Innovation Research and Development at a national scale for the SME/MSME/startups.
- Rejuvenating Science and Technology innovations in research institutions like CSIR (Council of Scientific Industrial Research), Agri Research (ICAR), and Medical Research (ICMR) aligned to national socio-economic needs.
