Atal Innovation Mission & IBM India – Internship Programme

NITI Aayog’s  Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) & IBM India designed first-of-its kind Industry-tailored Student Internship Programme to equip students with the skills for new collar careers in areas like artificial intelligence, Internet-of-Things, cyber-security, cloud-computing and block-chain has been announced on Thursday 11 October 2018, which will see 38 students receive a two-week paid internship, and 14 teachers from Atal Tinkering Labs (ATL) across the length and breadth of the country including from states such as Assam, Himachal Pradesh, Andaman & Nicobar and others, to come together and ideate, collaborate and innovate.

Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) including Self-Employment and Talent Utilization (SETU) is Government of India’s endeavour to promote a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship, with the objective to serve as a platform for promotion of world-class Innovation Hubs, Grand Challenges, Start-up businesses and other self-employment activities, particularly in technology driven areas. AIM has two core functions:

• Entrepreneurship promotionthrough Self-Employment and Talent Utilization, wherein innovators would be supported and mentored to become successful entrepreneurs
• Innovation promotion: to provide a platform where innovative ideas are generated

Atal Tinkering Labs (ATLs) are dedicated works spaces where students of Class 6th to Class 12^th learn innovation skills and develop ideas that will go on to transform India. ATLs foster curiosity and let innovators start young. The labs are powered to acquaint students with state-of-the-art equipment such as 3D printers, robotics & electronics development tools, IoT & sensors etc.

• The lab activities are designed to spur the spark of creativity, and go beyond regular curriculum and text book learning.
• The labs will let students explore skills of future such as design and computational thinking, adaptive learning and artificial intelligence.
• More than 2400 Atal Tinkering Labs (ATLs) are being established in Indian schools to nurture the scientific temper and creative mind-set of school children.
• The programme is designed to equip students with the 21st century skills such as design thinking, critical thinking, computational thinking and digital fabrication.
• The programme will enable India to create a dent in the Global Maker’s movement and be a global platform for world class innovation

AIM & IBM internship programme is focussed on enhancing the skills of the students via various innovative activities like design thinking approach, developing prototypes and solution for community issues and to solve them:

• As part of the programme, select teachers from ATLs will also be trained by IBM volunteers and mentors to become innovation coaches.
• The two-week programme is designed so students can experience the corporate environment and gain exposure to new technologies.
• To scale the programme, top-performing students are selected for industry exposure to strengthen their technical skills and prepare them for future jobs.

The Atal Innovation Mission conducted the Atal Tinkering Marathon in 2017 where Top 30 innovations across five focus areas – agritech, healthcare, smart mobility, clean energy, waste management, water management – were identified as the top innovations.

Students from the Top 30 teams have since been offered various opportunities like the Student Innovator Programme, the ATL Boot-camp with industry partners, opportunity to participate in global innovation contests like World Robot Olympiad (WRO), and an internship opportunity with IBM India at their Bengaluru campus.

India is on the cusp of a revolution to create a ‘New India ‘. India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi strongly believes that with the skills of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, India’s 1.2 billion people will help transform our nation into a ‘New India’. To achieve this goal it is essential that we Innovate in India and Make in India. As the Fourth Industrial Revolution sets in, the manufacturing and production will transform with more efficient and economical processes. Automation will be the new normal, with machines helping humans become more efficient.