AIM expects 5,000 startups to come out of 101 incubators in next 4 years

Atal Innovation Mission expects about 5,000 startups to come up in the next four years from incubators that it is planning to launch in various institutions across the country, R Ramanan, Mission Director, Atal Innovation Mission under NITI Aayog, said on Friday in Hyderabad.

"We are setting up 100s of world class incubators in universities and institutions across the country. We have launched 101 incubators of which 30 are operational already and the rest will be operational by the end of next year," he said.

Each of these incubators will foster at least 25 to 30 startups every two years, Ramanan said adding funding of Rs 100 million is being given to each incubator to provide necessary support to the startups.

The idea is, over 5,000 startups would now come out of these 101 incubators over the next four years, he told reporters on the sidelines of the two-day "The Things Conference".

He said the AIM is in the process of setting up 5,000 "Atal Tinkering Labs" in various schools across the country to inculcate research and innovation among children.

For this purpose, the Mission roped in as many as 5,000 professionals to mentor the students, he added.

"We have launched 5,441 Atal Tinkering Labs and 2,000 of them are already operational. Atal Tinkering labs are dedicated for innovation workspace in schools for students between Grade-VI to Grade-XII. They get exposure to latest technologies like robotics, IoT and 3D printing AR and VR," he explained.

He said currently work is on to launch "Small Business Innovation Research and Development" for MSME sector aimed at finding out various solutions for challenges being faced by various industries.

Ramanan said they are planning to launch the initiative by the middle of next year.