Cabinet clears Atal Innovation Mission 2.0 with Rs 2,750 crore outlay

The Union Cabinet on Monday approved the continuation of the Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) with an enhanced scope of work and an allocated budget of Rs 2,750 crore for the period till March 31, 2028. Under the aegis of NITI Aayog, AIM 2.0 is a step towards Viksit Bharat that aims to expand, strengthen, and deepen India's already vibrant innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem, said the Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

With India at rank 39 on the Global Innovation Index and home to the world's third-largest startup ecosystem, the next phase of the Atal Innovation Mission (AIM 2.0) is expected to further enhance India's global competitiveness.

“The continuation of AIM will directly contribute to creating better jobs, innovative products, and high-impact services across sectors,” the Cabinet said in a statement.

AIM 1.0 saw the nationwide formation of Atal Tinkering Labs (ATL) and Atal Incubation Centres.

AIM 2.0 now involves piloting new initiatives designed to fill gaps in the ecosystem and scaling successes through central and state governments, industry, academia and community. Around 2,500 new ATLs will be created for template development.

It aims to strengthen India's innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem by increasing input, improving the success rate or 'throughput' and improving the quality of 'output' (producing better jobs, products and services).

The Language Inclusive Program of Innovation (LIPI) programme aims to build innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystems in 22 scheduled languages for lowering the entry barrier confronting innovators, entrepreneurs and investors who don't speak English.

Thirty Vernacular Innovation Centres will be established in existing incubators as part of this, said the Cabinet.

“The Frontier Programme aims to create customised templates for the innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystems of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K), Ladakh, the North Eastern states (NE), Aspirational Districts and Blocks where 15 per cent of citizens live,” the Cabinet noted.

There will be four programmes to improve the throughput of the ecosystem — the Human Capital Development Programme; the Deeptech Reactor; the State Innovation Mission (SIM) and the International Innovation Collaborations Programme.

Also, two programmes — the Industrial Accelerator programme and the Atal Sectoral Innovation Launchpads (ASIL) programme — target improving the quality of output (jobs, products, and services).