Impact of Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) on Innovative and Entrepreneurial Mindset

of Students: A Study of Atal Tinkering Labs/Incubation Centres

Proposed by:

Mohmmad Rafiq Dar

M.Com, Department of commerce,

University of Jammu, Jammu.

Ph.: 7006635318

Email: mehmood645@gmail.com
Introduction

Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) was launched by the NITI Ayog as an innovation promotion
platform involving academics, entrepreneurs, and researchers utilizing national and
international experience to promote the culture of innovation, R&D in India particularly in
technology oriented areas. The AIM along with Self-Employment and Talent Utilization
(SETU) are Government of India’s the leading ventures to promote a culture of innovation
and entrepreneurship. The Atal Innovation Mission has two core functions:

1. Entrepreneurship promotion: through Self-Employment and Talent Utilization,

wherein innovators would be supported and mentored to become successful
entrepreneurs.

2. Innovation promotion: to provide a platform where innovative ideas are generated

To realize these two core objectives, AIM has different sub-components. Atal Incubation
Centers, Atal Tinkering Laboratories, and Scale up Support to Established Incubation
Centers.

Atal Incubation Centers are aimed at the creation and promotion of incubation centers across
the country. AICs will promote startups in various sectors like manufacturing, transport,
energy, health, education, agriculture, water, sanitation, etc., and would provide them with
necessary infrastructural facilities and other value-added services. AIM gives a grant-in-aid
of Rs 10 crore to each AIC for a maximum of five years to cover capital and operational
expenditure cost. An incubation centre should be a legal entity to be registered in India as
public, private or public-private partnership and must be in operation for a minimum of three
years. The Scale-up Support to Established Incubation Centers’ aims to augment capacity of
the established incubation centers in the country.

Atal Tinkering Labs – to promote creative, innovative mind set in schools

At the school level, AIM is setting up state of the art Atal Tinkering Labs (ATL) in schools
across all districts across the country. These ATLs are dedicated innovation workspaces of
1200-1500 square feet where do-it-yourself (DIY) kits on latest technologies like 3D Printers,
Robotics, Internet of Things (IOT), Miniaturized electronics are installed using a grant of Rs
20 Lakhs from the government so that students from Grade VI to Grade XII can tinker with
these technologies and learn to create innovative solutions using these technologies. This will
enable create a problem solving, innovative mind set within millions of students across the
country. To date, 3020 schools have already been selected for ATL Grants and in the near
future over 10000 schools are expected to be operational with Atal Tinkering Labs, covering
all the districts of the country. More than just grants, the ATL program is undertaking on-
the-ground activities to engage students and teachers in identifying problems in and around
their communities and creating innovative solutions leveraging the ATL technologies to
achieve the objectives of the program. Every school would have an ATL In charge appointed
by the school as well as Mentors associated to mentor the ATL students. All ATL in charges
to date have received training through AIM and its partners. AICTE (All India Council of
Technical Education) is also partnering with AIM to ensure that the closest universities to a
school can also mentor ATL students. Atal Innovation Tinkering challenges are regularly
held in the school as well as by AIM every month to ensure students active involvement in
creating innovative solutions to solve problems in their community and in the country. In the
ATL Community Day on April 14th 2018 more than 50000 children participated in
awareness building on ATL technology driven innovations at the ATL schools , with over
25000 of the children participating from the non ATL labs school communities. The vision is
to have every school have access to at least one or more Atal Tinkering Labs in each district
of the country, as well as to scale the same up with the help of state education ministries
across the length and breadth of the country. Also Government / Govt Aided schools, and
Girls schools, North East and Hilly District schools get a special preference in the
consideration of ATL selections. The Atal Tinkering Labs has created much enthusiasm and
energy in the schools and students and a Balanced Score Card based approach has been
designed to monitor and measure the outcomes of the same.

Atal Incubators – promoting entrepreneurship in universities and industry

At the university, NGO, SME and Corporate industry levels, AIM is setting up world-class
Atal Incubators (AICs) that would trigger and enable successful growth of sustainable
startups in every sector /state of the country, thereby promoting entrepreneurs and job
creators in the country addressing both commercial and social entrepreneurship opportunities
in India and applicable globally. AIM is also providing scale up support to existing
incubators for scaling up their operations. AIM is providing a grant of up to Rs 10 crores to
successful applicants for setting up greenfield incubators or scaling up existing ones. The idea
is that every one of the 110 named smart cities and the top 5-10 educational / industrial
institutions of every state should aspire to have a world class incubator that will provide the
youth / startup communities in the universities / industries opportunity to create new startups.
To date 47 Atal Incubators have been established and in the near future we would have 100+
Atal Incubators operational. Women led incubators and entrepreneurial startups are strongly
encouraged by AIM. Again here, the longer term approach would be to scale up with the help
of other ministries / states / sectors / public sector organizations as this would be crucial to
create thousands of job creators in India.

Review of Literature

The review of the literature has been done with an intention to bring out the research gap and
objective of the study.
Entrepreneurial ambition among the workforce is highest in India, with 56 per cent of
respondents in a survey indicating that they are considering leaving current jobs to start their
own business. According to the Randstad Workmonitor survey, 83 per cent of the Indian
workforce would like to be an entrepreneur, higher than the global average of 53 per cent.
The workforce in the age group of 45-54 years (37 per cent) is hesitant to start their own
business as compared to the workforce in the age group of 25-34 years (72 per cent) and 35-
44 years (61 per cent). Around 86 per cent of the survey respondents indicated that the
ecosystem to run a startup was favorable in India and 84 per cent said the Indian Government
actively supports new startups in the country and provides a favorable entrepreneurial
climate. Regarding workplace preference, MNCs are the most favored employers for Indian
workforce as 84 per cent respondents said they prefer to work for a multinational firm.
Around 76 per cent of the workforce from India stated that they would like to work for a
startup, whereas 69 per cent indicated that they would prefer to work for a small or medium
enterprise or a privately managed company.

The community mindset was reengineered wherein the business and entrepreneurship gained
mass acceptance and frugal innovation emerged as a result of new entrepreneurial thought
that became more pervasive. The entrepreneurial ecosystem that was considered to be the
barrier for pursuing entrepreneur as a career choice became redundant as academic actively
engaged in creation of entrepreneurial mindsets and complementary climate.

According to the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) India Report 2016-17, prepared by
Gandhinagar-based Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India (EDI) and its associates,
11 per cent of India's adult population is engaged in "total early-stage entrepreneurial activity
(TEA)." Around 4 per cent of the population accounts for "nascent entrepreneurs," who are
actively engaged in setting up a business they will own or co-own, the report says. Another 7
per cent are the entrepreneurs who are owner-managers of businesses which are running for
less than 3.5 years. Only 5 per cent of adult population in India manages to establish their
businesses, which is to say, their businesses survive for longer than 42 months, the report
says. This depicts low entrepreneurship to new business development conversion, thereby
necessitating to diagnose the underlying reasons for the argument as inferred from the
statistics.

Further, the rate is among the lowest in the world, and among the BRICS economies, Brazil
has the highest rate of established business ownership (17 per cent) and South Africa has the
lowest (3 per cent). China has a slightly higher rate of 8 per cent, while it is 5 per cent in both
Russia and India, the report says. Of those engaged in "TEA" (Total Early Age Entrepreneur)
in India, more than half have low-growth expectation, as they "did not intend to expand their
employee base,", adding that 44 per cent expect to hire 1-5 employees over the next five
years and only 5 per cent plan to hire more than five employees. At the same time, business
discontinuation rate in India is among the highest in the world at 26.4 per cent, it says.
Bureaucratic hurdles lead to business discontinuation in 1.3 per cent of cases. Seven per cent
of businesses fail due to financial issues, 6.5 per cent due to personal reasons, 16.9 per cent
because of the business turning unprofitable and 58.4 per cent due to other reasons.
Henceforth, the strong correlation between early stage entrepreneurship and resultant
employability, which is a permanent feature for developed world remains a questionable
proposition in Asian subcontinent in general and India in particular.

Research Gap

After reviewing the literature it was found that none of the studies have been yet conducted to
identify the impact of Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) on innovation and entrepreneurship.
There are various studies on innovation and entrepreneurship with narrow concept on the
modern view of entrepreneurial development in Indian context. The Government of India
has undertaken several initiatives and instituted policy measures to foster a culture of
innovation and entrepreneurship in the country. Job creation is a foremost challenge
facing India. With a significant and unique demographic advantage, India, however,
has immense potential to innovate, raise entrepreneurs and create jobs for the benefit
of the nation and the world. In the recent years, wide spectrums of new programmes
and opportunities to nurture innovation have been created by the Government of India
across a number of sectors. From engaging with academia, industry, investors, small
and big entrepreneurs, non-governmental organizations to the most underserved
sections of society. Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) is one of the major initiative
programme launched by NITI Aayog to promote the culture of innovation,
entrepreneurship and R&D in India particularly in technology oriented areas. So, the
present study framework is based on study of Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) and the
interventions adopted to foster the innovative mindsets amongst students.

Objectives of the Research Work

The present research work addresses to take up Atal Innovation Mission as a key
governmental intervention that is working at the forefront to transform the innovation
scenario of the nation from the grassroot level. Thus the objectives of the research
work are:

1. To study the innovation ecosystem of India with special reference to Atal

Innovation Mission.

2. To investigate the impact of Atal Innovation Mission towards development of

entrepreneurial intentions amongst academic stakeholders.

3. To draw out relationship between innovation centric pedagogy and resultant

entrepreneurial intentions among the students.

4. To explore the factors that impact academic innovation climate and subsequent
entrepreneurship.

5. To propose a model that establishes the connect between Innovation and

Entrepreneurship.

6. To suggest policy framework based upon research evidence of the undertaken study.

Hypotheses Development
H1: Innovation has a positive impact on shaping the entrepreneurial mindset of the students.
H2: Significant variation exists in innovation climate across Atal Tinkering Labs under study
H3: Significant relationship exists between innovation centric pedagogy and resultant
entrepreneurial intentions.
H4: AIM significantly influences innovation and entrepreneurship. (innovation and
entrepreneurship casuality related papers)

Research Methodology
The research methodology mainly includes the following:

Source of information:

The research would make the use of both primary and secondary sources of information the
case may be.

Secondary data: The secondary data will be obtained from published/unpublished literature
related to present research inclusive of journals, newspapers, books, websites, government
reports, magazines, case studies or any other relevant data.

Primary data: The primary data will be obtained from select AIM Coordinators, Mentors
and students of Atal Tinkering Labs/Incubation centres across India.

Research instrument: The research instrument used for the present study will be
questionnaire supported with personal interviews of respondents under study.

Sampling: The data shall be generated from students, Mentors and AIM Coordinators across
ATL/Incubation Centre located in various parts of the country taking into consideration the
total population size.

Conclusion
India has a large, demographically diverse population, with many young people seeking
employment. The country is on a path to growth, but the rate of growth has been slow. The
government has realized the roots of the basic problems and made appropriate reforms,
mainly in the areas of administration, economy, and labour, as it tries to free itself from
negative aspects of its colonial legacy. There has been a substantial thrust toward science,
technology, and innovation in past 20years, and many initiatives have been undertaken in that
direction. However, the investments in science, technology, and innovation are not yet
translating into the desired reality. Realizing that the innovation-led entrepreneurship
development holds promise for growth, the government has taken major policy initiatives
with a strong innovation agenda. The main initiatives are provision of funds and removing
the sluggishness in the ecosystem for innovations by improving linkages and making it
vibrant in a comprehensive way. The policy is in place; now, its success depends on its
implementation. Sometime will needed before conclusions can be drawn about the policy's
ultimate effects on the growth path. However, the new direction reflects strong growth
aspirations and resonates with the zeal and zest of the youth who wish to journey on the risky
path of innovation-based entrepreneurship.

References

 Shukla S, Parray I M, Chatwal S N, Bharti P (2018) “global entrepreneurship

monitor 2017-18: india report”
 Dutta S, Lanvin B, Vincent W S (2018) “Energizing the World with Innovation”,
global innovation index 2018.
 Dupuis P (2017), “employment v/s entrepreneurship”Global report Randstad
Workmonitor 1st quarter 2017
 Entrepreneurship in India – Thenand
now(http://www.forbesindia.com/article/spjimr/entrepreneurship-in india-then-and
now/46701/1)
 https://www.aim.gov.in/overview.php