Atal Community Innovation Centre (ACIC) Program

The Atal Community Innovation Centers (ACIC) are designed to provide support for the country’s neglected and un-served regions in terms of the start-up and innovation ecosystem. Reaching the innovators at the base of the pyramid and providing them with equal opportunities were seen by ACIC as being vital, especially by bringing the lab closer to the ground. It helps in setting up a place for pre-incubation of concepts/solutions. Celebrating the value of “frugality,” which is valued in Indian communities, ACIC intends to develop a formal method for identifying and scaling up these innovations with the use of the Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) model. The ACIC’s would be crucial in enhancing India’s startup and entrepreneurial ecosystem and echoing the national anthem of “Atmanirbhar Bharat“.

Aims of the Atal Community Innovation Centre (ACIC) Initiative:

The Atal Community Innovation Centers (ACIC) program’s goal is to provide distinctive and rewarding solutions. These solutions will inspire students, researchers, or any other individual or group of individuals to come up with and build original, creative solutions for the communities in and around the centers. The program provides allows freedom to develop novel solutions under this initiative in order to achieve this goal. The program would accomplish the goals to guarantee,

• Encourage innovators to come up with ideas for important societal issues.
• Using design thinking to inspire creativity.
• No of their age, everyone has the chance to innovate, come up with ideas, and create solutions.
• Through the Community Innovation Center’s Community Tinkering lab facilities, a community-oriented approach is enabling creative solutions.
• The development of budding innovators’ capabilities in developing technologies and the planning of their ideas from first concepts to useful solutions.
• Collaborations with regional businesses and institutions to find innovation challenges and solve them with novel products, services, and procedures.
• Public-private partnerships (PPP’s) support financial sustainability and encourage central agencies, other legal organisations, etc. to participate in mobilizing resources for the program’s operation.

Features of the Atal Community Innovation Centre (ACIC) Program:

• On the final date of the call for applications, which will serve as the deadline for all eligibility requirements, all applicants for the ACIC program must have been in operation for at least three years.
• Institutions receiving public funding, institutions receiving private sector funding, or organisations using the Public Private Partnership (PPP) model will establish ACICs.
• The candidates must own at least 51 percent or more of the SPV in order to be eligible for the program. When receiving foreign funding, the ACICs must follow the rules established by the Indian government and guarantee GFR compliance. Anywhere that the use of foreign cash is contemplated, MEA/MHA approval is required.
• All applicants must follow the financial regulations and standards outlined in the Government of India’s General Financial Rules (GFRs) directives.
• Non-government organisations may provide funding to ACICs for capital purchases, operational support, infrastructure expansion, seed capital, and building the corpus of SPV for managing the operations of ACIC in achieving the program’s objectives.
• Throughout the year, regular training programs on evolving technologies will be held to develop the fundamental contemporary competencies required for innovation.
• In order to clearly define their responsibilities and assistance to maintain the smooth operation of the ACIC, ACICs may enter into an agreement with the funding partner(s).
• To support their abilities to generate income and sustain themselves, ACIC will be encouraged to independently design and propose the innovation-boosting projects.
• It is made clear that AIM maintains the power, at its discretion, to demand that any applicant for the ACIC form an SPV for carrying out the ACIC.

The ACIC is Enabling Society to Build a New India:

• Indian communities have a tradition of innovation: Innovation requires curiosity, and Indian communities have always been naturally curious. Our great history in science and technology is proof of this. Our innate brilliance has served as the foundation for these accomplishments, which span from the creation of “Zero” in prehistoric times to India’s current prominence in the IT sector.
• Empowering localities to propose and implement change: However, when communities are given the means (financial, infrastructural, and human) to make their ideals a reality, their true potential can be realized. The mission of ACIC is to introduce innovators to cutting-edge technology and assist them in refining their concepts for societal good.
• Big ideas begin modestly:  Every person has the potential to innovate, according to ACIC. Sometimes even straightforward short answers to common issues, have the ability to reach a wider audience because of their clarity and efficacy. This theme also highlights how intelligent individuals may be found in even the most remote areas of India, searching for a tiny rung on the ladder of opportunity that ACIC seeks to offer.
• Developing and expanding concepts into goods or services that are ready for the market: The road from an idea to a company is not an easy achievement, and this is why ideas frequently fail to make an effect owing to problems at various stages of the innovation cycle. By offering prospective ideas pertinent guidance and help along this cycle, ACIC seeks to simplify this trip.

Qualification for the Atal Community Innovation Centre (ACIC) Program:

1. The acceptable non-academic applicants are volunteer organisations and other groups with good exposure to and experience with raising public awareness of science and technology in the nation.
2. Universities and colleges that are accredited with the University Grants Commission (UGC) and the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), as well as educational institutions like ITI’s and other technical diploma colleges, are acceptable academic applicants.

Conclusion:

It will significantly contribute to the development of India as innovation and technology-driven startup nation and raise India’s position in the global innovation index. It is necessary to give unique and innovative ideas shape into proof of concept, pre-prototypes, and prototypes in order to fulfill promises to serve society. AIM suggests assisting in the creation of neighborhood innovation hubs for this reason. These centers will offer the necessary infrastructure for creativity in neglected or unserved areas, or they may have the potential to create innovation ecosystems across the nation. It also helps in fostering local entrepreneurs in order to aid them in tackling various societal issues. It is still necessary to provide the community with possibilities to improve the innovation ecosystem and to provide them with space and a supportive atmosphere for the conception of creative products.