About AIM & NITI Aayog
The government architecture that makes ACIC Sahyadri possible.
What the Atal Innovation Mission is
Established in 2016 under NITI Aayog, the Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) is the Government of India's flagship initiative to promote a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship. AIM takes a full-lifecycle approach — from school-level exposure through Atal Tinkering Labs to venture-stage support through Atal Incubation Centres and Community Innovation Centres.
What the ACIC programme is
Atal Community Innovation Centres (ACICs) extend AIM's mandate specifically to underserved and unserved regions of India — areas with limited access to formal innovation ecosystems. Each ACIC is set up in partnership with a host institution and co-funded to sustain infrastructure, mentoring and programming for grassroots innovators in that region.
The six building blocks
Grassroots innovation
Grassroots innovation refers to solutions developed by individuals close to a problem — often without formal technical training — using local knowledge, materials and constraints. The ACIC model exists to give these innovators the same calibre of infrastructure and mentoring that a metro startup would take for granted, without requiring them to first acquire a degree or a company.
Where ACIC Sahyadri sits
ACIC Sahyadri Foundation is part of the national network of Atal Community Innovation Centres, hosted at Sahyadri College of Engineering & Management to serve coastal Karnataka — from Mangaluru's urban core out to the district's rural and coastal talukas.