Atal New India Challenge 2.0 (ANIC 2.0) Launch

Atal Innovation Mission launched the phase 1 of the 2^nd edition of the Atal New India Challenge (ANIC 2.0) on 28^th April 2022.

Atal New India Challenge is a flagship program of Atal Innovation Mission, NITI Aayog. The program aims to seek, select, support and nurture technology-based innovations that solve sectoral challenges of national importance and societal relevance.

One of the primary goals of the ANIC program is to support innovations in areas critical to India’s development and growth – Education, Health, Water and Sanitation, Agriculture, Food Processing, Housing, Energy, Mobility, Space Application etc.

Launching the Challenge, Dr S. Chandrasekar, Secretary, DST in his address said that Government will hand-hold the path breaking innovations and asked the start-ups to take up hard challenges. He said, sectors like Agriculture and Health need huge start-up push apart from tough areas like Chemicals, Pesticides etc.

The Atal New India Challenge aims to address the Commercialization Valley of Death – supporting innovators scale over the risks associated with access to resources for testing, piloting and market creation. ANIC solicits innovations from start-ups and MSMEs in the prototype stage and after a competitive process of selection supports them through to the commercialization stage over a course of 12 – 18 months with a funding of up to INR 1 crore along with other associated support from the AIM’s innovation ecosystem.

Working in collaboration with the different verticals of NITI Aayog and the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, ISRO and Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, the 1^st phase of ANIC 2.0 will see 18 challenges being thrown open from 7 sectors.

Sector: E-mobility

Challenge 1: Electric Vehicles – Innovations in indigenous Electric Vehicle and EV component technology

Challenge 2 : EV charging Infrastructure – Solutions for easier and faster charging of EV batteries

Sector : Road Transportation (in partnership with Ministry of Road Transport and Highways)

Challenge 1: Safe Transport – Innovations to improve rider / driver safety

Challenge 2: Smart Mobility – Smart solutions to develop Intelligent Transport Systems

Challenge 3: Sustainable Mobility – Sustainable innovations in mobility

Sector : Space Technology and Application (in partnership with Department of Space – Indian Space Research Organization)

Challenge 1: GIS Solution – GIS solutions across sectors – agriculture, water, forestry, urban affairs, road transport etc.

Challenge 2: Propulsion – Innovations in green propellants, electric propulsion, advanced air-breathing.

Challenge 3: Navigation – NavIC based navigation solution in IoT applications

Challenge 4: AI/ML Modelling – AI/ML models for space applications

Sector: Sanitation Technology (in partnership with Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment)

Challenge 1: Preventing Human Intervention – Innovations to mechanize cleaning of septic tanks, drainages and manholes.

Challenge 2: Protecting Humans Engaged in Sewage Cleaning – Protective gears, equipment and other solutions for ensuring the health and safety of humans engaged in sewage cleaning.