Today, the Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) under NITI Aayog initiated the application process for the ‘ATL Marathon 2023-24’. This prominent innovation challenge is organized in collaboration with the Ministry of Education, YuWaah, and UNICEF. The ATL Marathon serves as a platform for young innovators throughout the country to tackle community issues of their choice and create practical solutions in the form of operational prototypes.
In the previous iteration, the Marathon showcased over 12,000 innovations contributed by school students from all corners of India. This year’s ATL Marathon revolves around the theme of India’s 75th Republic Day, presenting various problem statements for student teams to base their projects on, such as Space, Agriculture, Inclusivity, Disaster Management, Mobility, Health, Education, and Skill Development.
The leading teams will have the chance to participate in the Student Innovator Program, offering internships with prominent corporations and Incubation Centers in India. Additionally, they will receive certificates from AIM, NITI Aayog, along with other enticing prospects. Amazon Web Services (AWS) has partnered as the host for this edition of the ATL Marathon.
Unveiling the challenge, Mission Director AIM Dr Chintan Vaishnav said, ‘ATL Marathon is a very exciting opportunity for young school students. Students can innovate on any of the given problem statements or work on a problem they find in their everyday lives. ATL Marathon is open for all schools across the country, independent of whether they are connected to an Atal Tinkering Lab or
Sanjay Kumar, Secretary, Ministry of Education added, ‘I am very excited to be a part of the launch of ATL Marathon and wish all students and teachers the very best for this competition. ATL Marathon will allow teams to come together and work on a project on a collective basis. By being a part of ATL Marathon, children will be exposed to innovation and become innovators. More than 10,000 schools have School Innovation Councils. Coming together of School Innovation Councils and ATL Marathon is very important to create an ecosystem of innovation in schools.’
Kevin Frey, CEO, Generation Unlimited, UNICEF stated, ‘The mission of YuWaah Generation Unlimited is to to skill the world’s 1.8 billion young people and connect them to opportunities for employment, entrepreneurship and social impact. ATL Marathon brings that mission to life.’
In this competition, the skills these young students will be developing are the skills needed for the future. ATL Marathon is the future of education where these students are taking action and solving real problems of their community. We will be keeping a watch on it for the next few years and depending on the results scale up ATL Marathon globally all across many more countries, Frey added.
Participation Link of ATL Marathon – https://atl.unisolve.org/
Video of the Competition – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HufI5CnhkfU&ab_channel=AtalInnovationMissionOfficial
