Atal Innovation Mission

Supports Indian innovation and entrepreneurship through incubators, mentorship, and startup development pathways across sectors.

Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) is the Government of India's flagship innovation and entrepreneurship programme under NITI Aayog. Launched in 2016, it is built to shape innovation in schools, universities, research institutions, private firms, and MSMEs. The current portfolio is organised around ATL, AIC, ACIC, ANIC, Mentor of Change, an ecosystem development programme, and a vernacular innovation programme.

The scale is visible in the operating numbers. AIM says it has established 10,000 Atal Tinkering Labs, 72 Atal Incubation Centres, and 14 Atal Community Innovation Centres, with more than 3,500 startups supported, 1,000 women-led startups, and 32,000 jobs created through AICs. ACIC support can reach INR 2.5 crore per centre with matching funding, and ANIC can fund prototype-stage startups up to INR 1 crore over 12 to 18 months. The current frontier push is the ATL Frontier Programme in Jammu and Kashmir, where the live call seeks 500 new labs.

AIM works through host institutions rather than direct beneficiary payments. Schools sign up for ATL, universities and corporates host AICs, community organisations host ACICs, and selected startups receive ANIC support. The public portal says some application windows are closed at present, so the best entry point is the specific active call that matches the applicant's host institution and geography.