With the aim to promote innovation among youth, central government think tank Niti Aayog and American technology giant Dell EMC announced on the eve of National Youth Day that they are launching a 10 month student entrepreneurship programme under Atal Innovation Mission.
The annoucnemet were made during a fuction in New Delhi at the launch of Atal Tinkering Lab Handbook – Nayee Dishayen, Naye Nirman, Naya Bharat on the eve of the birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda, also celebrated as the National Youth Day.
According to Niti Aayog, 10 month student entrepreneurship programme is a fully-funded initiative to help the top six project of the Atal Tinkering Marathon 2017 to transform their innovative prototypes into functioning, scaled and go-to-market products.
The project include prototypes across six crucial themes having broader social impact, namely, Clean Energy, Waste Management, Agritech, Healthcare, Smart Mobility and Water Resources.
From a smart tap which monitors and purifies the water flowing through it to a low-cost ayurvedic herbal air spray which eliminates harmful microbes in the air, the top six innovations, which were designed in the Atal Tinkering Labs under AIM are poised to bring in fresh ideas to market and inspire a generation of entrepreneurs, said Niti Aayog.
“Niti Aayog is doing a phenomenal job in enabling students to build on ideas that can be translated into viable products. We feel privileged to be associated with it,” said Alok Ohrie, President & MD, Dell EMC.
The Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) is the Government of India's flagship initiative to promote a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship in the country. AIM is mandated to create an umbrella structure to oversee innovation ecosystem of the country and revolutionizing the innovation eco-system – touching upon the entire innovation life cycle through various programs. The Atal Tinkering Laboratories (ATLs) create innovators, Atal Incubation Centres and support to Established Incubation Centre ensure that innovations are taken to the market and help create enterprises around these innovations.
Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant, Ramanathan Ramanan, Mission Director, Atal Innovation Mission, Alok Ohrie, MD, Dell EMC and Dr. Anjlee Prakash, Chairperson, Learning Links Foundation (LLF) were present during the event.
“Innovations by ATL students are solving issues that confront our nation. The biggest disruption we are bringing about is the creation of Atal Tinkering Labs to imbibe the spirit of innovation & entrepreneurship at a young age,” said Kant.
