Schools across the country will hopefully launch 10,000 Atal Tinkering Labs (ATLs), Niti Aayog's Atal Innovation Mission director Chintan Vaishnav has said.
Vaishnav said he is working on a five-year vision document for the Atal Innovation Mission (AIM), which is the Modi government's flagship initiative to create and promote a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship across the length and breadth of the country.
“In the next three months, we are hopeful of achieving the target of establishing 10,000 Atal Tinkering Labs (ATLs),” Vaishnav said.
AIM has established over 9,500 ATLs already. The mission has been set up under the Niti Aayog in accordance with the finance minister's declaration in the 2015 Budget speech.
ATL is a workspace where young minds can give shape to their ideas through hands-on do-it-yourself mode and learn innovation skills.
The objectives of AIM are to create and promote an ecosystem of innovation and entrepreneurship across the country via interventions at school, university, research institutions, MSME and industry levels.
The programmes of AIM cover 34 states and Union Territories with the goal of leveraging India's demographic dividend by inspiring greater participation in the innovation ecosystem.