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(GIST OF KURUKSHETRA) Innovation and Entrepreneurship for Sustainable Growth

[November-2020]

Promoting Entrepreneurship and Startups will ensure an unprecedented wave of long-deserved growth, prosperity and well-being that can serve the interests of the rest of the world as well as the spirit of New India.
Creating a nation of job-creators and not just job-seekers is important for a sustainable growth. And central to this, is the need for an extensive collaboration between corporate industry, academia, and governments at the village, district, state and central levels.

The global COVID-19 crisis has descended with a speed and intensity that has stirred and shaken nations worldwide. Its infectious spread is afflicting people in all walks of life in over 140 countries, accelerated by an intricately interconnected world we all live in, where people mobility is key to almost every country’s economy.
The COVID-19 crisis has left countries gasping for immediate solutions even as the world’s finest scientists, healthcare and biotech researchers fervently race towards finding a curative solution or vaccine to bring this crisis to an end.
A crisis of this magnitude and speed of spread needs urgent preventive, assistive, treatment related solutions in various categories. These range from high quality and reliable masks, personal preventive equipment, ventilators, sanitisers, and contact-tracing, among others. This demands not only great innovative ability, but also incredible agility and nimbleness by companies and government institutions to effectively arrest and end the COVID-19 menace.

An ongoing pandemic of unprecedented proportions, COVID-19 has impacted lives and livelihoods across the globe. Even as the best minds in the world race towards finding preventive and curative solutions to combat and curb the spread of the novel coronavirus, the current crisis has been an eye-opener to several opportunities that have presented themselves during this time.
Creating a nation of job-creators and not just job-seekers is the key. And central to this, is the need for an extensive collaboration between corporate industry, academia, and governments at the village, district, state and central levels. Such synergies have indeed gained momentum with the COVID-19 crisis and need to be further capitalized on.

To address the above challenges, Government of India’s flagship initiative Atal Innovation Mission (AIM), NITI Aayog is leading from the front to promote a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship in the country.
Towards this end, AIM has taken a holistic approach to ensure creation of a problem-solving innovative mindset in schools and creating an ecosystem of entrepreneurship in universities, research institutions, private and MSME sector.

Over the last 3 years, AIM has launched the establishment of thousands of Atal Tinkering Labs enabling students from grade 6 to grade 12 to have access to and tinker with innovative tools and technologies like 3D printers robotics, miniaturised electronics do it yourself kits thus stimulating a problem solving innovative mindset to solve problems in around the community they are in.
Atal Tinkering Labs are being established in schools nationwide with 5000+ operational in 650+ districts and over 2 million students having access to ATLs.

To promote creation of a supporting ecosystem for start-ups and entrepreneurs, AIM has been establishing world class incubators called Atal Incubation Centres (AICs) in universities. Institutions, corporate, etc that would foster world class innovative start-ups and become scalable and sustainable enterprises.
To date AIM has selected 102 universities /institutions / private players to establish world class Incubators, each of which will foster creation and nurturing of 40-50 world class Startups every four years. 68 of them are already operational with more than 1250 operational Startups and the remaining will be operationalised during this year.
Atal Community Innovation Centers – serving Unserved and Under-Served regions of India:
To promote the benefits of technology led innovation to the unserved/underserved regions of India including Tier 2, Tier 3 cities, aspirational districts, tribal, hilly and coastal areas, AIM is setting up Atal Community Innovation Centres with a unique partnership driven model wherein AIM would grant upto Rs 2.5 crores to an ACIC subject to a partner proving equal or greater matching funding. Over 300 applications have been received across the country and around 50 ACICs will be established during the next two years.

To create product and service innovations having national socio-economic impact, AIM has launched over 24 Atal New India Challenges in partnership with five different ministries and departments of central government.
Applied Research and Innovation for Small Enterprises (ARISE)-to stimulate MSME industry innovation:
To promote innovation in a phased manner in the MSME/Startup sector, AIM will be launching ARISE (Applied Research and Innovation for Small Enterprises) along with partner Ministries so that great research ideas are converted to viable innovative prototypes followed by product development and commercial deployment.
Mentor of Change (Mentorship and Partnerships-with Public, Private sector, NGOs, Academia, Institutions)
To enable all the initiatives to succeed, AIM has launched one of the largest mentor engagements and management program "Mentor India – The mentors of Change".
To date AIM has over 10000+ registrations nationwide on the AIM iNNONET portal with 4000+ of them allocated to ATLs and AICs.

Promoting Entrepreneurship and Startups for Sustainable Growth truly will help India to ignite the innovative entrepreneurial spirit of New India by focusing on strengthening the above pillars, which will ensure an unprecedented wave of long deserved growth, prosperity and well-being that can serve the interests of the rest of the world as well.