An overview on NITI Aayog Vernacular Innovation Program

Niti Aayog launched the vernacular innovation program in India under the Atal innovation mission( which is a flagship program of the NITI Aayog). It was launched on 22 December 2021. The program enables innovators and entrepreneurs access to the innovative ecosystem in 22 scheduled languages.

The program is meant to tackle the problem of language for vernacular innovators when they are accessing markets or attracting investors for investment or when influencing policy innovation.

This is accomplished by creating a vernacular task force in every language for creating the environment and resources necessary.

The function of the vernacular task force will be to 

• learn 
• conceptualize 
•  implement 
• translate 

The entrepreneurship concept in their respective language. They will also augment or increase the design thinking concepts in the 22 scheduled languages.

Significance of the program 

The significance of the program is listed as follows-:

•  They program  will empower the innovators and entrepreneurs across the country to come up and overcome the language Barrier
• It will create equal opportunity for the  vernacular innovators that account for 90% of the population
• It will develop a local network of design experts and Innovation practitioners and
•  It will be a stepping stone for Indian innovation and entrepreneurship.

ABOUT AIM iCRESt

iCRESt stands for  Incubator capabilities enhancement for a Robust ecosystem for high-performing start-ups. The aim of the program is to create high-performing start-ups.

It is under the Atal innovation mission. Over the years the mission has successfully created a network of Incubators that adds to the innovation value chain of the country.

In this ecosystem the mission is aware of the team-related challenges that the Incubators face in the business. ICRESt is an initiative that is based on this principle. It is the first initiative in this direction and is remotely conducted.

The aim of this mission is to become a growth hack for Incubators as they are on their way to becoming World Class Incubators and reaching the top of the business.

Partners 

For the iCRESt program, the Atal innovation mission is working with Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Wadhwani Foundation. These Organisations can help in providing the expertise and the support in the innovation and entrepreneurial space.

As these organisations have global recognition and experience the Partnership can help the start-ups with the global experience and hence can add to the Atal innovation missions incubator network.

AIM iCRESt has been designed to create an incubation ecosystem and a growth hack for Atal innovation mission’s Atal and Established incubators across the country.

The initiative aims at fostering an incubation enterprise economy with the help of Incubators. Business Incubators are the institutions that help support entrepreneurs in developing their business at the early stage. Thus with the support, expertise and knowledge of the Incubators, the start-up’s performance will be enhanced.

Features of the iCRESt program 

• iCRESt is a capacity building program
• Through this program the 

incubators and their teams will gain deep insights into the process of incubation and acceleration.

• They will learn about the best practices of about 200 incubators and accelerators across the world.
• They will learn to fill the existing gaps in their business with the help of different Frameworks, tools and templates.
• The program will be accompanied by training for the entrepreneurs with the help of technology-driven platforms.
• The program is extended to around 65+ Atal innovation mission supported Incubators.
• The program also worked during COVID by delivering online sessions 
• The program uses technology in a big way as it uses this technology to provide logical, self-learning modules on the digital platforms 

Objectives of the program 

The program believes that the Incubators and the accelerators have a pertinent role in shaping the start-ups. Atal innovation mission ( AIM)believes that the country needs disruptive solutions in order to get hold of the socio-economic challenges in the country which become more evident post-COVID that has shaken the entire world order. 

The major objective of the program is to enable and empower the Incubators in a way that they are able to nurture and handhold the next generation start-ups which will play an instrumental role in providing transformative solutions for the entire world.

The main objective of this program is to enable the Incubators to implement and design world-class entrepreneurship programs and make them sustainable and credible. This is aligned with the Atmanirbhar Bharat initiative and follows the concept of Self-reliance.

Some of the main objectives of the program are listed as follows -:

• Create a viable start-up that attracts investors and hence is investable.
• Encourage collaborative ecosystem
• Create a robust network of investors, mentors and Incubators
• Incubators give the desired support, infrastructure and training to the budding start-ups
• A sustainable Incubator business model developed by the Incubators
• Enable the Incubators to develop a world class incubation program that covers all aspects like sourcing and selection, incubation and start-up building, communing engagement and collaborations, monitoring progress and tracking growth and mentor management.

Conclusion

Atal innovation mission is a flagship program of the NITI Aayog. It has launched a Vernacular Innovation Program to enable innovators and entrepreneurs to access the innovative ecosystem in 22 scheduled languages. The program is meant to tackle the problem of language for vernacular innovators when they are accessing markets or attracting investors for investment or when influencing policy innovation.

The AIM has also launched iCRESt which is stands for  Incubator capabilities enhancement for a Robust ecosystem for high-performing start-ups. The aim of the program is on creating high-performing start-ups’. the initiative aims at fostering an incubation enterprise economy with the help of Incubators. The main objective of this program is to enable the Incubators to implement and design world-class entrepreneurship programs and make them sustainable and credible and thereby moving close to self-reliance.