India to have 5000 start-ups by end of year, says head of Atal Innovation Mission

India is expected to spawn 5000 start-ups by the end of this year, said R Ramanan, mission director of Atal Innovation Mission while speaking at an event in Ahmedabad on Tuesday evening.

“We are setting up world-class incubators across the country in the institutions of repute. One such incubators has already been selected in Gujarat. We have 19 such world-class incubators. Before the end of this year, 50 incubators will be operational,” said Ramanan while delivering a keynote address at the 8th foundation day of Gujarat Innovation Society (GIS), a body set up in the year 2011.

“Every incubator spawns at least 20-30 start-ups every two years. The 19 incubators that we have set up have 500 start-ups, each of them employing 10 people. When we increase this number to 50 we expect at least 5000 start-ups to be operational in this country,” Ramanan said at the event where 14 awards were given out to innovators from various fields in the presence of Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani.

The chief of Atal Innovation Mission also told the gathering that the mission has set up about 120 Atal tinkering labs in the state of Gujarat. These labs are dedicated work spaces in schools where students (Class 6-12th) learn innovation skills and develop ideas. “In the last tinkering marathon held, 35000 students participated across the country. 6000 innovations were created, 600 of them were short-listed for final consideration and top 100 have been awarded. These top 100 innovations are being adopted by corporates, industries and start-ups and taken to the next level and commercialise,” said Ramanan.

The official said that the 70 percent of the 200-schools selected for setting up of the tinkering labs are government and government-aided schools. “It is not the private schools, it is not the metro schools. Innovation is coming from the rural areas,” he added.

Gujarat CM Rupani said that the government plans to park an additional Rs 700 crore in developing various facilities at the Gujarat Science City in Ahmedabad. During the event, among the various awards given, veteran advocate Kanishka Hiralal Kaji was conferred with the “Gujarat Ratna”.