Govt announces 3,000 additional Atal Tinkering Labs

New Delhi: NITI Aayog’s Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) has selected 3,000 additional schools for the establishment of Atal Tinkering Labs (ATLs), bringing the total number of ATL schools to 5,441. The selected schools shall receive a grant of Rs 20 lakh spread over the next five years to establish Atal Tinkering Labs for nurturing innovation and entrepreneurial spirit among secondary school children across India. ATLs will soon be established in every district of India, seeking to enable an innovation ecosystem, which will facilitate transformational change in technological innovation and pedagogy.

“These additional 3,000 schools will greatly expand the reach of the ATL program, increasing the number of children exposed to tinkering and innovation and providing access to the young innovators of India to technologies like 3D Printing, Robotics, IoT and microprocessors”, said Mr Ramanathan Ramanan, MD, Atal Innovation Mission.

These additional schools will facilitate the creation of over One Million Neoteric Child Innovators by 2020. ATLs will function as innovation hubs for these student innovators to explore solutions to unique local problems which they come across in their everyday lives.These new additions take the number of ATLs to 5,441 representing all states and five out of seven union territories.

With these new schools, NITI Aayog’s AIM envisions strong growth in the collaborative ecosystem created by the ATL initiative, where students, teachers, mentors and industry partners work to facilitate innovation, foster scientific temper and an entrepreneurial spirit in the children of today, who will go on to become successful contributors to nation-building tomorrow.

These newly selected schools will be contacted soon with all details regarding the formalities they have to complete to receive the grant and establish the Atal Tinkering Lab on their premises.

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 Centreensure that innovations are taken to the market and help create enterprises around these innovations.