Innovation Cell and Atal Ranking of Institutions on Innovation Achievements (ARIIA)

In order to encourage healthy competition among Higher Educational Institutions and foster innovation culture, the Ministry of Human Resource Development has constituted two new specialised agencies, namely Innovation Cell and Atal Ranking of Institutions on Innovation Achievements (ARIIA).

ARIIA has been launched to systematically rank education institutions and universities primarily on innovation-related indicators. ARIIA will consider all major indicators which are commonly used globally to rank the most innovative education institutions/ universities in the world.

The Innovation cell has been established at the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) with a purpose to systematically foster the culture of Innovation in all Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) across the country. The primary mandate of Innovation Cell is to encourage, inspire and nurture young students by exposing them to new ideas and processes resulting in innovative activities in their formative years fostered through Network of Innovation clubs in Higher Educational Institutions.

ARIIA ranking will certainly inspire Indian institutions to reorient their mindset and build ecosystems to encourage high-quality research, innovation and entrepreneurship. More than quantity, ARIIA will focus on the quality of innovations and will try to measure the real impact created by these innovations nationally and internationally. Moreover, ARIIA will set tone and direction for institutions for future development for making them globally competitive and in forefront of innovation.

MHRD Innovation Cell (MIC)

Innovation cell is MHRD’s initiative established at AICTE with a purpose to systematically foster the culture of Innovation in all Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) across the country. The primary mandate of Innovation Cell is to encourage, inspire and nurture young students by exposing them to new ideas and processes resulting in innovative activities in their formative years fostered through Network of Innovation clubs in Higher Educational Institutions.

Major Programs :- 

1. Network of Innovation Clubs (NIC)
2. Atal Ranking of Institutions on Innovation Achievements (ARIIA)
3. Smart India Hackathon (SIH) 2019
4. National Student Startup Policy (NSSP)

Network of Innovation Clubs (NIC)

MIC will prescribe basic framework for the structure, formation, structure and smooth running of ICs and will soon share list of different activities which ICs need to undertake for the entire academic year.

Why HEIs should join ICs Network?

1. No major capital investment required and IC will make use of existing local ecosystem
2. Students/Faculty associated with ICs will have exclusive opportunity to participate in various Innovation related initiative and competitions organized by MHRD.
3. Win exciting prizes/Certificates every month
4. Meet/ Interact renowned Business Leaders and top-notch academicians
5. Opportunity to nurture and prototype new ideas
6. Mentoring by Industry Professionals
7. Experiment with new technologies.
8. Visit new places and see new culture.

Atal Ranking of Institutions on Innovation Achievements (ARIIA)

For India to emerge as a global innovation hub, the youth of our country, especially in higher education institutions (HEIs) need to play a crucial role to create a sustainable innovation ecosystem. Hence, ideally all HEIs should have a comprehensive and functional mechanism to convert research into innovations. This ecosystem will encourage, inspire and nurture young students by exposing them to new ideas and processes resulting in innovative activities in their formative years.

To ensure that Innovation is primary fulcrum of all HEIs, Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD), Govt. of India is introducing ‘Atal Ranking of Institutions on Innovation Achievements (ARIIA)’ to systematically rank education institutions and universities primarily on innovation related indicators. ARIIA considers all major indicators which are commonly used globally to rank most innovative education institutions/ universities in the world.

ARIIA ranking will certainly inspire Indian institutions to reorient their mind-set and build ecosystems to encourage high quality research, innovation and entrepreneurship. More than quantity, ARIIA will focus on quality of innovations and will try to measure the real impact created by these innovations nationally and internationally. Moreover, ARIIA will set tone and direction for institutions for future development for making them globally competitive and in forefront of innovation.

ARIIA will primarily focus on 5 main parameters :-

Smart India Hackathon (SIH) 2019

The third edition of World’s Biggest Open Innovation Model – Smart India Hackathon – 2019 launched on Wednesday, 29^thAugust, 2018 at the hand of Shri Prakash Javadekar, Hon’ble Minister for HRD, Government of India, New Delhi.

Smart India Hackathon 2019 is a nationwide initiative to provide students a platform to solve some of pressing problems we face in our daily lives, and thus inculcate a culture of product innovation and a mindset of problem solving. In this new edition, students would have the opportunity to work on challenges faced within the public and private sector organizations, and NGOs in addition to government problems pooled from various union ministries. As like in previous editions, Smart India Hackathon 2019 would also have 2 sub-editions – Software edition (a 36-hour software product development competition) and Hardware edition (a 5 days long hardware product development competition).

National Student Startup Policy (NSSP)

AICTE’s Student Start-up Policy:

AICTE crafted its Student Start-up Policy and was launched on 16^th November 2016 at the hands of Honourable President of India. This policy is designed for the AICTE approved Institutions in accordance with Govt of India’s “Start-up India” Action plan, that was launched on 16th January 2016. AICTE’s Student Start up policy intends to guide AICTE approved institutions to promote student driven innovations and start-ups.

The policy aims at identifying the innovative and entrepreneurial potential of students and transforming them into start-up entrepreneurs. This can be done by developing an ideal entrepreneurial ecosystem and promoting strong inter-institutional partnerships among technical institutions, other ecosystem enablers, different stakeholders, programs, market and society.