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India Boosts Innovation with Enhanced Atal Innovation Mission 2.0

Context

The Union Cabinet has endorsed the continuation and expansion of the Atal Innovation Mission (AIM), operated under the auspices of NITI Aayog, with a significantly increased budget of Rs. 2,750 crore. This funding is set to support the newly launched AIM 2.0, which aims to invigorate India’s innovation ecosystem through 2028.

AIM 2.0 Overview

• AIM 2.0 is designed to broaden and enhance India’s innovation ecosystem, building upon the successes of initiatives like Atal Tinkering Labs (ATLs) and Atal Incubation Centers (AICs).
• It introduces new programs and scales existing efforts to foster a deeper, more inclusive innovation landscape across India.

Global and National Innovation Standing:

• India holds the 39th position on the Global Innovation Index and boasts the third-largest startup ecosystem globally. AIM 2.0 seeks to elevate these standings through targeted developmental programs.

Key Initiatives under AIM 2.0:

• Language Inclusive Program of Innovation (LIPI):
  • Establishes innovation centers across India that operate in 22 scheduled languages, aiming to bridge the language barrier for non-English speaking innovators.
• Frontier Program:
  • Plans to set up 2500 new Atal Tinkering Labs, particularly in underserved regions such as Jammu and Kashmir, the North Eastern states, and Aspirational Districts, enhancing access to innovation resources.
• Ecosystem Enhancement Measures:
  • Focuses on training professionals including managers, teachers, and trainers to support and sustain the innovation ecosystem.
  • Develops a research sandbox to aid the commercialization of deep-tech startups, which typically require longer periods of investment.
  • Strengthens state-level innovation through NITI Aayog’s State Support Mission.
• Global Engagement:
  • Expands India’s innovation connections on a global scale through initiatives like the Global Tinkering Olympiad and strategic partnerships with international entities such as WIPO and G20 nations.
• Programs Aimed at Improving Output Quality:
  • The Industrial Accelerator Program, which will create 10 accelerators in crucial sectors through Public-Private Partnerships (PPP), aims to scale advanced startups.
  • The Atal Sectoral Innovation Launchpads (ASIL) program establishes platforms similar to iDEX across central ministries to integrate and procure from startups in key industry sectors.

About Atal Innovation Mission

• The Mission has been set up under the NITI Aayog, in accordance with the Hon’ble Finance Minister’s declaration in the 2015 Budget Speech.
• The objectives of the AIM are to create and promote an ecosystem of innovation and entrepreneurship across the country via interventions at school, university, research institutions, MSME and industry levels.
• The AIM has focused on both infrastructure creation and institution building.
• The AIM has worked on integrating innovation ecosystem both nationally and globally

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 Centre: 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.