Atal Innovation Mission

[UPSC Notes]
What is Atal Innovation Mission?
The Atal Innovation Mission is the flagship program launched by the Indian government
in 2016 which has a holistic approach to creating a problem-solving environment in the
schools there, providing them with an ecosystem of startups and entrepreneurship in
the universities' research institutions and various MSME sectors.

All the initiatives taken under the Atal Innovation Mission scheme are under surveillance
and monitored by the MIS systems and the dynamic dashboards.

Initiatives under Atal Innovation Mission (AIM)

• Atal New India Challenge
• Atal Incubation Center
• Atal Tinkering Lab
• Mentor India
• Aatmanirbhar Bharat ARISE – Atal New India Challenge (ANIC) Program
• Atal Community Innovation Centre

Features of Atal Innovation Mission

Through this initiative, technopreneurs will be able to promote themselves and develop
India's future.

• 15 sector-specific challenges will be selected, and there will be three challenges

for each of the Ministries.
• A grant of up to 50 lakh has been awarded for startups to develop a minimum
usage prototype between 9 months and 1 year.
• In addition to attracting the innovators, challenging them with the Mahatma
Gandhi challenge would be more effective in attracting them.

By addressing these problems in the core areas, the Atal Innovation Mission initiative
directly impacts the quality of life as well as the creation of jobs.

• Those entrepreneurs who successfully demonstrate they have the capability to

manufacture and organize a market for their products under the 17 focus areas
will be rewarded with a grant of up to Rs 1 crore.
• The winning guarantees will be facilitated with the best guidance provided by the
leading experts in the market and the technical support team, along with the
 incubators that will help them to boost their product multiplication and increase
their market share.
• As a part of the commercialization process, continuous guidance and mentoring
will be provided to the awardees from time to time at various levels.
• This challenge is to open an application to all the companies registered under the
Companies Act and the startups of all the research and development institutions
for academicians and academic institutions.

Atal Tinkering Labs of Atal Innovation Mission

Over the last 4 years, Atal Innovation Mission has launched the Atal Tinkering Lab
Program, which is kind of a state-of-the-art space program in the schools that boosts
the students' ability to brainstorm their minds and come up with some productive and
innovative ideas for entrepreneurship.

• The main aim of launching this Atal tinkering lab is to induce problem-solving
skills in the minds of children between 6th and 12th classes and apply those
skills to solve any problem in their nearby areas.
• According to the records as of now, the Atal Innovation Mission has chosen over
10,000 schools in about 700 districts of the country where it has established Atal
Tinkering Labs. Over 7000 schools have been funded by the government in the
same field.

Atal Incubators in Atal Innovation Mission

Atal incubators are also part of the Atal Innovation Mission, which allows young
entrepreneurs to expand their thoughts.

• The Tell Innovation Mission has established top-class rs in educational

institutions like universities and colleges where they encourage the learners to
produce ideas of their own entrepreneurship and bring their hands into action for
the welfare of society.
• They provide students with technical support, research facilities, mentorship,
financial support partnerships, and flexible working spaces for a better working
environment.
• Till now, over 1800 operational startups have been initiated by women, out of
which about 500 are led by men.

Atal New India Challenge

The Atal New India challenge is launched by NITI Aayog, which is a national institution
for transforming India under the Atal Innovation Mission.

• Atal New India challenges aim to create super innovations and bring in
technology relevant to the society and public of India.
 • The Atal New India Challenge program is led by the Indian Space Research
Organisation (ISRO) and four ministries: the ministry of defense; the ministry of
food processing industries; the ministry of health and welfare; and the ministry of
housing and urban affairs.
• The objective of the Atal New India Challenge is to collaborate with the ministries
and industries to do research and development and facilitate innovative solutions
to existing problems.

Atal Innovation Mission- iCRESt

AIM is an Incubator Capabilities enhancement program for a Robust Ecosystem aimed at high-
performing startups. The iCRESt of Atal Innovation Mission is designed to support the
ecosystem of incubation and serve as a growth hack for AIM's Established and Atal incubators
nationwide. This project is aligned with Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyaan.

Elements of AIM iCRESt

• Structured Incubator training
• Startup Training
• E-handbook on Incubation success
• Best practices as per Global Standard
• Experienced mentors