Niti Aayog Invites Applications For Mentor India To Guide Atal Tinkering Labs Setup Under Atal Innovation Mission

Niti Aayog is inviting applications for Mentor India also known as the Mentor of Change initiative. It is a strategic nation-building initiative to engage leaders who can guide and mentor students in 900+ Atal Tinkering Labs under the Atal Innovation Mission.

Currently, the mentors that are working with Startup India include Paytm co-founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Ola co-founder Bhavish Aggarwal, Zivame founder Richa Kar, Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant, Deep Kalra (founder Make My Trip), among others. Apart from this ICICI Mad and CEO Chanda Kochar, Mobikwik co-founder Bipinpreet Singh, NEarbuy founder Ankur Warikoo, etc. are also part of the program.

Prime Minister Modi unveiled his ‘Startup India, Standup India’ Plan, in January 2016. The Startup India Action Plan facilitated for the launch of Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) with Self-Employment and Talent Utilisation (SETU) Program in order to foster innovation. The Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) was launched to serve as a platform for the promotion of world-class Innovation Hubs, Grand Challenges, Startup businesses and other self-employment activities, focusing on technology-driven areas.

What Are Atal Tinkering Labs?

AIM proposed the establishment of sector specific incubators, the establishment of Tinkering Labs, pre-incubation training in collaboration with various academic institutions, strengthening existing incubation, and providing Seed funding to potentially successful and high-growth startups.

Atal Tinkering Labs are dedicated works spaces where students (Class 6th to Class 12th) learn innovation skills. The labs are powered to acquaint students with state-of-the-art equipment such as 3D printers, robotics & electronics development tools, IoT & sensors etc.

The lab activities are designed to go beyond regular curriculum and textbook learning. The Atal Innovation Mission is in the process of setting up 900+ such labs across India and aims to have 2,000 such labs by end of 2017.

What Is Mentor India?

Through the mentor India the Niti Aayog is looking for leaders who devote one to two hours every week in such labs and enable students to experience, learn and practice future skills such as design and computational thinking.

Mentors can probably contribute in areas like imparting technical knowhow for building prototypes, inculcating solution-oriented approach, provide leadership and self-motivation, and encouraging ideas and team building, etc.

Who Can Apply?

1. Corporates (including but not limited to corporations, MSMEs, entrepreneurs, innovators, maker-spaces, NGO partners)
2. Government organisations
3. Higher education institutes
4. Academicians (including applicants from research organisations)
5. Students from undergraduate and postgraduate programs are eligible to apply and become a part of Mentor India

The deadline to submit the application is 30th September 2017. Click here to know more and apply.