Grants of upto Rs One Crore, mentorship to be given to the winning ideas

The Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) under the NITI Aayog shall be launching the Atal New India Challenge on Thursday, 26th April 2018. The event will see presence of Shri Rajiv Kumar, Vice-Chairman, NITI Aayog, Shri Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister for Road Transport & Highways, Shipping and Water Resources, River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation, Shri Radha Mohan Singh, Union Minister of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, Shri Hardeep Singh Puri, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge), Housing and Urban Affairs, Shri SS Ahluwalia, Minister of State, Ministry of Drinking Water & Sanitation, Shri Amitabh Kant, CEO, NITI Aayog and Shri Ramanathan Ramanan, Mission Director, AIM.

Under the Atal New India Challenge, which shall be run in collaboration with five ministries, AIM will invite prospective innovators/MSMEs/start-ups to design market-ready products, using cutting edge technologies or prototypes across 17 identified focus areas such as Climate Smart Agriculture, Smart Mobility, Predictive Maintenance of Rolling Stock, Waste Management etc.

Applicants showing capability, intent and potential to productize technologies will be awarded grants up to Rs. One crore. This grant will be further supplemented by mentoring, handholding, incubating and other support as needed at various stages of commercialisation, while generating wider deployment for the product.

Innovation funding: Atal New India Challenge provides grants and mentorship to innovators and startups for product commercialization. The Atal New India Challenge, run by the Atal Innovation Mission under NITI Aayog with five ministries, invites innovators, MSMEs and start-ups to design market-ready products across 17 focus areas; eligible applicants demonstrating productization potential will receive grant funding together with mentorship, incubation and stagewise support to facilitate commercialisation and wider deployment.