GOA:
Goa Institute of Management (GIM) one of the premier B-Schools in India, has been selected by the National Institution for Transforming India (NITI) Aayog, for setting up an Atal Incubation Centre (AIC) under the Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) scheme. The AIC at GIM will create world class incubation facilities and will be the third incubation center to be set up within the state.
NITI Aayog’s Atal Innovation Mission including Self-Employment and Talent Utilization (SETU) is one of the flagship programs of the Government of India to promote a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship. AIM is looking to set up close to 100 incubation centers across the country during 2017 with an 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 will provide a grant-in-aid of up to INR 10 crore to cover the capital and operational expenditures to establish the AIC at Goa Institute of Management.
NITI Aayog received a total of 3648 applications from academic and non-academic institutions for the grant. Out of which 13 institutions were selected from across the country after a four-stage evaluation process. 12 academic institutions and one private firm have been selected for setting up of AICs. Goa institute of Management (GIM) is one among the 12 academic institutions.
Said Prof. Ajit Parulekar, Director, GIM, “We are happy to be selected among the 13 institutions hand-picked for the task. The Incubation Center at GIM will serve as an active knowledge and resource catalyst for the development of promising entrepreneurs and will aid in accelerating the growth of early stage organizations from ideation to marketplace success.”
AIM intends to support the establishment of new incubation centers under the Atal Incubation Centres (AICs) that would nurture innovative start-up businesses in their pursuit to become scalable and sustainable enterprises. These incubation centers will provide pre-incubation facilities, common infrastructure and services such as technology development assistance, networking and mentoring, funding access, training and development, business support services (entrepreneurship development, marketing, finance and accounting, research, legal, regulatory, etc.) to innovators and startup entrepreneurs for developing solutions.