NITI Aayog to open applications for Atal New India Challenge

NEW DELHI: The Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) under the NITI Aayog shall be launching the Atal New India Challenge on Thursday, 26th April 2018.nnThe event will see presence of Rajiv Kumar, Vice-Chairman, NITI Aayog, Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister for Road Transport & Highways, Shipping and Water Resources, River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation, Radha Mohan Singh, Union Minister of Agriculture & Farmers Welfare, Hardeep Singh Puri, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge), Housing and Urban Affairs, SS Ahluwalia, Minister of State, Ministry of Drinking Water & Sanitation,Amitabh Kant, CEO, NITI Aayog and Shri Ramanathan Ramanan, Mission Director, AIM.nnUnder the Atal New India Challenge, which shall be run in collaboration with five ministries, AIM will invite prospective innovators/MSMEs/start-ups to design market-ready products, using cutting edge technologies or prototypes across 17 identified focus areas such as Climate Smart Agriculture, Smart Mobility, Predictive Maintenance of Rolling Stock, Waste Management etc.nnApplicants showing capability, intent and potential to productize technologies will be awarded grants up to Rs. One crore.nnThis grant will be further supplemented by mentoring, handholding, incubating and other support as needed at various stages of commercialisation, while generating wider deployment for the product.