NITI Aayog will set up 5,000 Atal Tinkering Labs (ATLs) in 10 months

Government think-tank NITI Aayog, which had last year selected additional 1,500 schools across the country for setting up Atal Tinkering Labs (ATLs) programme, will build 5000 Labs in all districts in India in next ten months.

We will set up 5,000 Atal Tinkering Labs (ATLs) by March 2019, said NITI Aayog Vice-Chairman Rajiv Kumar. He was speaking at an event showcasing top 30 innovations by school students, which emerged out of the six-month-long nationwide Atal Tinkering Marathon conducted in over 2,000 such labs set up till now.

#NewsFromNITI: VC @Rajivkumar1 releasing the ATL Marathon Booklet, featuring the Top 30 innovations of the @AIMtoInnovate's Atal Tinkering Marathon, which featured over 650 submissions from across the country. pic.twitter.com/MQcGhREk92

— NITI Aayog (@NITIAayog) May 10, 2018

NITI Aayog had organised the innovation marathon to identify India's best student innovators across six different thematic areas including clean energy, water resources, waste management, healthcare, smart mobility and agri-tech.

Under the student innovator programme, students will be trained on business and entrepreneurship skills, including intellectual property, effective communication, making an elevator pitch and so on.

Besides, ATL schools will be offered a participation voucher to World Robotics Olympiad (WRO).

Last year in December NITI Aayog brainchild Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) had selected additional 1,500 schools across the country for setting up ATLs programme. Now the total number of labs are 2,441. The government plans to increase it to 30,000.

ATLs are play workspaces fitted with state-of-the-art technologies like 3D printers, robotics, sensor technology kits, Internet of things (IoT), miniaturized electronics to stimulate innovation among students of class 6-12th. Their aim is to promote innovation and entrepreneurship in schools, universities and industry

The lab helps students find solutions by exploring and experiencing design thinking and innovation, a do-it-yourself approach etc.

ATLs under the Atal Innovation Mission, is based on the philosophy that incentives and prize awards are a great beginning to create an exponential wave of innovation and entrepreneurship amongst school children.