To promote research and innovation among children, 8,878 schools have been selected for establishing Atal Tinkering Labs (ATLs), Human Resource Development Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’ said in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha. Of these schools, 3,020 have completed their compliance process and have been funded successfully.

Background

Atal Innovation Mission (AIM)

AIM is a flagship initiative set up by NITI Aayog to promote innovation and entrepreneurship across the country.

AIM is also envisaged as an umbrella innovation organisation that would play an instrumental role in alignment of innovation policies between central, state and sectoral innovation schemes.

It promotes 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’s two core functions are…

* Entrepreneurship promotion through self-employment and talent utilisation, wherein innovators would be supported and mentored to become successful entrepreneurs.

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

AIM is also actively working on establishing collaborations with innovation systems and entities in other countries in APAC, Europe, UK, USA, Africa and Latin American Countries.

AIM has adopted a framework in the achievement of its objectives.

What is the purpose of ATL?

Atal Tinkering Lab (ATL) is a programme run by AIM under NITI Aayog to foster curiosity and innovative mindset in young students to encourage research and innovation in schools. The vision of the initiative is “to create 1 million children as neoteric innovators”.

Key Features of ATL:

*ATL is a work space where young minds can give shape to their ideas through hands-on do-it-yourself mode and learn innovation skills.

* Young children will get a chance to work with tools and equipment to understand the concepts of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math).

* At the school level, AIM is setting up state-of-the-art Atal Tinkering Labs (ATLs) in all districts across the country.

* These ATLs are dedicated workspaces of 1,200-15,00 sq ft where do-it-yourself (DIY) kits on latest technologies like 3D printers, robotics, Internet of Things (IoT) and miniaturised electronics are installed.

* Students from Grade VI to Grade XII can tinker with these technologies and learn to create innovative solutions using these technologies.

* This will enable to create a problem-solving, innovative mindset within millions of students across the country.

* More than just grants, the ATL programme 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 programme.

* AIM will provide grant-in-aid that includes a one-time establishment cost of Rs 10 lakh and operational expenses of Rs 10 lakh for a maximum period of five years to each ATL.

Atal Incubation Centres (AICs)

* It promotes entrepreneurship in universities and industry

*At the university, NGO, SME and corporate industry levels, AIM is setting up world-class AICs that would trigger and enable successful growth of sustainable startups in every sector/state of the country.

* 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 crore 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 an opportunity to create new startups.

* Female-led incubators and entrepreneurial startups are strongly encouraged by AIM.

Atal New India Challenges / Atal Grand Challenges

* It aims to promote technology driven innovations and product creation for social and commercial impact.

* Atal New India Challenges / Atal Grand Challenges are launched in specific areas and sectors of national importance - such as renewable energy, energy storage, climate-smart precision agriculture, universal drinking water, Swaach Bharat, transportation, education, health care using robotics, IoT technologies, artificial intelligence, blockchain, augmented and virtual reality, battery technologies etc.

* The successful applicants will get a grant of upto Rs 1 crore for Atal New India Challenges and larger grants of up to Rs 30 crore for Atal Grand Challenges.

* AIM is also partnering with corporates and other institutions to launch such challenges to stimulate new product and service development in various sectors.

* AIM has set up one of the largest mentoring networks in the country called Mentor India from the professional and industry community who can help mentor students at Atal Tinkering Labs and Atal Incubation Centres.

* A number of industry leaders and corporate organisations have volunteered to adopt ATLs/AICs in their vicinities to ensure close mentoring and success of these initiatives.