Atal Innovation Mission to be tech garage of India: Amitabh Kant

Niti Aayog Chief Executive Officer, Mr Amitabh Kant stated that the government’s Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) will emerge as the technology garage of India, rolling out products and applications across sectors. He said, “We have seen some unique products which have evolved. We will take them to their delivery levels with the private sector. It’s a private-public partnership, much like we did with Aarogya Setu (app). And, actually, in the long run, Atal Innovation Mission will become really the tech garage of India, rolling out large numbers of new products, new apps which the world will require”.

He stated that the government has developed tinkering labs in schools as part of the task, where students can experiment with concepts such as 3D printing, the use of artificial intelligence and robots. Niti Aayog works closely with the private sector to address problems in areas such as financial inclusion, health care, education and telemedicine. To promote innovation, AIM also works with the Ministry of Defence, the Indian Space Research Organisation and other departments to promote government bodies to purchase products from emerging start-ups.

He said, “we have worked with Isro, Ministry of Defence, Ministry of Housing – all of them to actually, to launch new challenges of the problems India is confronted with. Young start-ups who solve these problems, we will assist, support and handhold and the government will buy those products”. At present, the task, supported by Dell Technologies, supports 120 incubation laboratories across the world. Dell Technologies India's managing director, Mr Alok Ohrie, stated that the project has grown over time and promoted creativity. He added that some of India's primary technology-enabled transformations, such as UIDAI and GST, have been closely involved and will continue to develop solutions for the next phase of growth.

Mr Ohrie stated that there are a few industries that have certainly taken a front seat in the current climate, and they really need to be equipped with strategies that will help them continue to sustain service levels. For education, healthcare and other fields, Dell is working on solutions. He said, “We are trying to bring in solutions for our customers in the education segment that will allow them to not only maintain the classes and the daily routine that children should have by sitting at home and attending those classes, but also creating content that can help them use this content repeatedly”. The firm is also working on automated solutions to hold patient records in India.

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.