The Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) has recently been taking strides in the news. This NITI Aayog flagship initiative has launched an incubator capabilities enhancement program known as AIM-iCREST. This program is intended to encourage and nurture innovation and entrepreneurship across India.
Understanding AIM-iCREST
AIM-iCREST is a robust ecosystem designed to bolster high-performing startups. As an Incubator Capabilities Enhancement program, its main goal is to support the growth of AIM’s existing and Atal incubators scattered throughout the country. To add credibility and sector-specific expertise to this initiative, AIM has partnered with esteemed organizations such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Wadhwani Foundation. These organizations are respected contributors to the world of entrepreneurship and innovation.
The Role of AIM’s Incubators
The incubators administered by AIM are poised to be upscaled, providing the necessary support to boost the incubation enterprise economy. Additionally, training will be offered to entrepreneurs employing technology-driven processes and platforms. This is aimed at fortifying start-up entrepreneurs with knowledge creation, dissemination, and developing robust and active networks.
About Atal and Established Incubators
Business incubators play an instrumental role in supporting entrepreneurs to develop their businesses, particularly during the initial stages. With AIM’s support, new incubation centers known as Atal Incubation Centers (AICs) will be established. These AICs are focused on nurturing innovative start-ups on their journey to becoming scalable and sustainable business enterprises. On the other hand, the Established Incubation Centers (EICs) comprise those set up by academia, industry, investors, smaller and bigger entrepreneurs, government organizations, and NGOs. AIM plans to upgrade these to a world-class standard.
The Atal Innovation Mission
The Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) is the Government of India’s key initiative to foster a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship across the country. Its mandate is to develop new programs and policies to stimulate innovation in different economic sectors, provide a platform for collaboration, create awareness, and establish an umbrella structure for overseeing the country’s innovation ecosystem.
Atal Innovation Mission’s Major Initiatives
Aside from the above-mentioned aims, other major initiatives by AIM include Atal Tinkering Labs, Atal Incubation Centers, Atal New India Challenges, Mentor India Campaign, Atal Community Innovation Center, and Atal Research and Innovation for Small Enterprises (ARISE). These initiatives have varied objectives ranging from nurturing a problem-solving mindset across schools, fostering product innovations that align with different sectoral needs to stimulating community-centric innovation in underserved regions and sparking innovation and research in the MSME industry.
Source: PIB
