Atal Innovation Mission (AIM), NITI Aayog

Overview

Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) is the flagship innovation initiative of NITI Aayog, set up to build and promote a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship across India. It works at the school, university, startup, and industry levels through a connected set of programs.

Core Programs

AIM operates Atal Tinkering Labs in schools to introduce students to design thinking and prototyping; Atal Incubation Centres (AICs) and Established Incubation Centres at universities, institutions, and corporates to support early-stage startups; the Atal New India Challenge (ANIC) and Atal Grand Challenges, which provide grant funding to startups solving sector-specific problems; and the Atal Community Innovation Centres (ACICs) focused on tier-2 and tier-3 regions.

What Founders Get

Through its incubator network and ANIC grants, AIM offers grant-in-aid funding, incubation infrastructure, mentorship, and access to government, PSU, and corporate problem statements. Funding is non-dilutive and milestone-linked. Sector coverage is broad and shifts with each ANIC cohort, often spanning healthcare, mobility, agriculture, defence, space, clean energy, and water.

How to Engage

Startups apply directly to specific ANIC challenges or join through AIM-supported AICs. AIM is also the policy nerve centre for the wider innovation ecosystem, coordinating with ministries, states, and private partners on schemes that reach a large share of Indian incubators and tinkering labs.