Atal Innovation Mission

By CA Sandeep Kanoi Corporate Law Articles April 13, 2022

In the year 2016, ‘Atal Innovation Mission’ was set up by NITI [National Institution of Transforming India] Aayog. It is a Government of India initiative. Basically, it is developed with an aim to promote a culture of entrepreneurship as well as innovation across the country at various schools; research institutions; MSME; universities; etc.

The current article covers the core functions of the ‘Atal Innovation Mission’; key activities undertaken under the ‘Atal Innovation Mission’; eligibility condition under the ‘Atal Innovation Mission’ and the target set under the ‘Atal Innovation Mission’.

Core functions of the ‘Atal Innovation Mission’ –
Defining key activities of the ‘Atal Innovation Mission’ –
Eligibility conditions under the ‘Atal Innovation Mission’ –
Targets set under the ‘Atal Innovation Mission’ –

Core functions of the ‘Atal Innovation Mission’ –

Two core functions of the ‘Atal Innovation Mission’ are highlighted hereunder –

1. Promotion of entrepreneurship via self-employment and talent utilization; and

2. Promotion of innovation.

Defining key activities of the ‘Atal Innovation Mission’ –

Following are the key activities carried out under the ‘Atal Innovation Mission’ –

1. Atal Tinkering Labs;

2. Atal New India Challenges;

3. Atal Incubation Centres;

4. Atal Community Innovation Centre;

5. Mentor India Campaign.

The following table provides the gist of all the above activities –

Activity	Details
Atal Tinkering Labs	It is established in the schools so as to develop creativity and imagination in the minds of the children; It is set up at schools managed by the Government or society or local body or private trust and developed for the students from grade 6 to grade 10; It aims to enhance competitive and deep thinking; adaptive learning etc. in the students; It provides equipment and tools for children to learn and understand the concepts of STEM i.e. Science; Technology; Engineering and Maths; It provides financial support of INR 20 Lakhs to each school [including one-time establishment cost of INR 10 Lakhs and operational cost of INR 10 Lakhs] for a period of 5 years.
Atal New India Challenges	It aims to enhance innovation in the areas like water, housing, health, energy and hygiene; It focuses on various areas like railways; education; healthcare; sanitation; food processing; power; energy; electric mobility etc.
Atal Incubation Centres	Basically, it promotes and enables the start-up enterprises to become comparatively more stable, sustainable and scalable; It encourages women entrepreneurs in every state and all the sectors; It offers a grant of INR 10 Crores for setting up Greenfield incubators; Notably, a basic requirement of setting up an ‘Atal Incubation Centres’ is a ready-to use build up space of at least 10,000 square feet.
Atal Community Innovation Centre	It focuses on developing innovation in the specific areas of India that have been underserved and unserved in terms of the required amount of education and infrastructure.
Mentor India Campaign	It sets up mentoring networks across India to ensure mentoring of the students being part of ‘Atal Tinkering Labs’ and ‘Atal Incubation Centres’ incubators and start-ups; The registered mentor is required to dedicate at least two hours every week to one or more of the labs.

Eligibility conditions under the ‘Atal Innovation Mission’ –

Category-wise eligibility criteria for the ‘Atal Innovation Mission’ are explained in the table below –

Eligibility condition for Academic Applicants	Eligibility condition for Non-academic Applicants
Educational institutions like Technical Diploma Colleges; ITI and others; Universities as well as colleges affiliated with AICTE and UGC.	Voluntary as well as other organizations promoting science & technology.