Atal Innovation Mission collaborates with Bayer to work towards healthcare and agriculture innovations

Mumbai, 14th April, 2021 (GNI): Atal Innovation Mission (AIM), the Government of India’s flagship initiative and Bayer, a global life science company with more than 125 years presence in India, have come together to work towards the mission of fostering innovation and entrepreneurship initiatives across the country.  

A Statement of Intent (SOI) of a strategic partnership between AIM and Bayer was signed and exchanged to formalize the collaboration. The SoI will span the promotion of science education, advancing digital solutions and agri-tech to strengthen supply chains as well as healthcare projects. Additionally, Bayer will collaborate with AIM to support their current and future programs and foster innovation & entrepreneurship across the agriculture and healthcare sectors.

A flagship program of AIM, ‘Atal Tinkering Labs’ (ATL) has played a pivotal role in fostering creativity and imagination amongst school children. Bayer will explore opportunities to mentor school children, inculcate design thinking, problem solving and adaptive learning skills amongst them and support & adopt mutually agreed schools. Additionally, as a part of the ‘Atal Incubation Centres’ (AIC) and ‘Atal Community Innovation Centres’ (ACIC), Bayer shall mentor young innovators and start-ups and collaborate with them to further the cause of innovation. In future, Bayer would also explore association with the techno-preneurs from the ANIC and ARISE programs in the area of digital solutions in the agriculture and healthcare sectors. 

Mission Director AIM, NITI Aayog, R. Ramanan while exchanging the virtual SoI with Bayer said, “The collaboration with Bayer is a natural fit for Atal Innovation Mission as both their areas of specialization, agriculture and healthcare are areas of national priorities, especially more so in the times of the pandemic. We have a special focus on these areas, and I am confident that this shall be a very fruitful relationship in the times to come.”

Senior Bayer Representative South Asia and Chief Executive Officer – Bayer CropScience Limited, D. Narain said, “Bayer is pleased to partner with the Atal Innovation Mission, Niti Aayog. Through this collaboration, we endeavour to foster innovation and entrepreneurship in India across the sectors of agriculture and healthcare. It will enable us provide multiple opportunities to mentor school children and inculcate scientific curiosity as a part of the ‘Atal Tinkering Labs’ initiative, enable digital solutions across value chains and partner with inventive start-ups. At this critical time, entrepreneurship and science-led innovation can play an important role in accelerating our progress towards doubling farmer incomes and expanding access to health solutions across India.”

Through its focus on digitization, Bayer aims to drive scalable, creative technology solutions for healthcare and agriculture that enable last mile reach. Such technology innovations in healthcare and agriculture can benefit people living in remote and rural areas, driving development and supporting livelihoods, stated in the press release.

About AIM

Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) is Government of India’s flagship initiative to create and promote a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship across the length and breadth of our country. AIM’s objective is to develop new programmes and policies for fostering innovation in different sectors of the economy, provide platforms and collaboration opportunities for different stakeholders, and create an umbrella structure to oversee the innovation & entrepreneurship ecosystem of the country. AIM’s initiatives have played an important contributory role in the advancement of India from a position of 81 in the Global Innovation Index in 2015 to a position of 48 in 2020.

AIM has adopted a holistic approach encompassing schools, universities, research institutions, industry, MSME, NGOs, Ministries, at district, state and national levels.