NITI Aayog’s Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) and UNICEF India, have come together this Children’s Day, to provide an open platform to young children of India, to contribute towards sustainable development.

Celebrating innovation on the occasion of the National Children’s Day, the UNICEF – Atal Tinkering Labs Young Champions Awards were announced today by Dr Rajiv Kumar,Vice-Chairman, NITI Aayog and Mr. Yuri Afanasiev, UN Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative in India. Mr Ramanathan Ramanan, Mission Director of AIM and Ms Laura SiegristFouché, Chief of Operations at UNICEF were also present.

The awards were presented to the top six most innovative solutions from across the country, which were shortlisted through the Atal Tinkering Marathon.

On October 2 last year, AIM’s Atal Tinkering Labs (ATL) had launched a six month long nationwide challenge called the Atal Tinkering Marathon, across six different thematic areas, namely, clean energy, water resources, waste management, healthcare, smart mobility and agri-technology.

The objective was to encourage students to observe community problems and develop innovative solutions. From over 650 innovations received, Top 30 innovations were identified from 20 different States and Union territories from across India.

These Top 30 teams were awarded with several prizes including a three month-long ATL Student Innovator Program in partnership with industry and start-up incubators, where students were trained on business and entrepreneurship skills. The partners included start-up incubators: C-CAMP, Aartech, Amrita TBI, TREC-STEP and industry representatives: Learning Links Foundation, Intel India and Stratasys India.

These Top 30 innovations are symbolic of a larger movement which is taking root in every school, in every district across India.

As part of a long-term partnership, during the Children’s Day Week, from today to the World Children’s Day on 20 November, AIM and UNICEF seek to drive extensive forward and backward linkages within the stakeholders in India, to create a paradigm shift in the student mindset and prepare them to become young innovators and entrepreneurs.

AIM and UNICEF have also launched a 72 hour Tinkering Hackathon from 14 to 17 November so that children can come up with innovative solutions for challenges faced by them in school, especially pertaining to quality of education and safety in schools.The winners of the Hackathon will be announced on 20 November, World Children’s Day.

Youth innovation awards promote student-led solutions for sustainable development and link winners to incubation and training opportunities. Atal Innovation Mission and UNICEF established the Young Champions Awards and related programmes to promote student-led innovation across six thematic areas, selecting top projects through the Atal Tinkering Marathon and providing awardees placement in a three-month Student Innovator Program with business, entrepreneurship and incubation partnerships.