Atal Tinkering Marathon: Top 30 student innovators to be supported through industry partnerships

Top 30 innovations by students under Atal Tinkering Marathon from across India will be supported through industry partnerships. They will also be awarded by Rajiv Kumar, Vice-Chairman of NITI Aayog.  Atal Tinkering Labs of the Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) of NITI Aayog organised the Atal Tinkering Marathon, a six-month long nationwide challenge across six different thematic areas -- clean energy, water resources, waste management, healthcare, smart mobility and agri-tech. 
 
From over 650 innovations received, top 100 were shortlisted based on novelty and prototype functionality. Hundred teams were then given a month to further refine their prototypes and rework their presentations. Following this, their innovations were judged by a panel of judges, including industry and academia experts, selected the top 30 innovations. These top 30 innovations have been identified from 20 different states and Union Territories, a NITI Aayog statement said. 
 
On the eve of the National Technology Day, ATL Marathon’s top 30 innovations will be supported through industry partnerships.  
 
Atal Tinkering Labs under the Atal Innovation Mission of NITI Aayog 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, the statement said. The ATL Student Innovator Program is an effort to institutionalise a mechanism, where high school students can work with university incubators to pursue their innovative and entrepreneurial ideas along with their education, it said. 
 
"Our goal is 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," the statement said.
 
The Marathon is open to all schools across the country which aspire to make a difference and contribute to the school’s success in becoming an Innovation Hub. The Marathon’s focus is on identifying a problem and developing innovative solutions that align with the National Agenda of creating a New India by 2022. The innovative solutions should ideally focus on the 6 focus areas in alignment with National Agenda.