Establishment of Atal Innovation Mission and Self Employment and Talent Utilisation in NITI Aayog
Establishment of AIM and AIM Directorate would result in implementation of Mission activities in a focussed manner. This would be a focal point for innovation and entrepreneurship in the country.
The details are as follows:-
(i) The Mission would be guided by a Mission High Level Committee (MHLC) which will take all decisions relating to approval of requisite guidelines including Grand Challenge areas, prize money and implementation of various elements of AIM and SETU.
(ii) NITI Aayog will hire Mission Director and other appropriate manpower.
(iii) The headquarter of the Mission will be New Delhi.
Background:
With a view to give substantial boost to the innovation ecosystem and to catalyse the entrepreneurial spirit in the country, Finance Minister in his Budget Speech 2015-16 announced the Government’s intention to establish the Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) and a mechanism to be known as SETU in NITI with an initial sum of Rs. 500 crore and Rs. 1000 crore respectively. As a follow up of Budget announcement, NITI Aayog constituted an Expert Committee on Innovation and Entrepreneurship under the Chairmanship of Prof. Tarun Khanna, Director, South Asia Institute, Harvard University, USA to work out detailed contours of AIM and SETU. The Committee in its report made wide ranging recommendations for the short-term (where action can be taken relatively quickly to deliver almost immediate payoffs), medium-term (that can be addressed within a 5-7 years time frame) and long-term, which are likely to have long gestation period, but will lead to a profound transformation in the entrepreneurial fabric of the country. The Committee also emphasized the need to establish clear systems to monitor implementation, execution, and impact.
The AIM and SETU are being initiated as a follow up of Union Budget 2015-16 announcements. The proposal was considered by EFC on 28th August, 2015, and it was observed that AIM is a Mission and SETU is an approach. Therefore, there should be one umbrella scheme titled as ‘AIM’ which will have two sub-components – i) Innovation; and ii) SETU, wherein the innovators would be supported and mentored as successful entrepreneurs.