With an ambition to empower innovators and entrepreneurs across the country, Atal Innovation Mission (AIM), NITI Aayog has come up with a first of its kind Vernacular Innovation Program (VIP), which will enable innovators and entrepreneurs in India to have access to the innovation ecosystem in 22 scheduled languages by the Government of India.

To build the necessary capacity for the VIP, AIM will be training a Vernacular Task Force (VTF) in each of the 22 scheduled languages. Each task force comprises vernacular language teachers, subject experts, technical writers, and the leadership of regional Atal Incubation Centres (AICs).

To get the program rolling, AIM NITI Aayog is launching a train-the-trainer program where it will collaborate with the Design Department of IIT Delhi to coach the VTF in design thinking and entrepreneurship and the adaptation of these subjects in the 22 languages and cultures. Furthermore, industry mentors have joined hands to lend design thinking expertise, and CSR sponsors have agreed to support the program generously. 

After training the task force from December 2021 to April 2022, the ecosystem will be opened to vernacular innovators. VIP is an initiative to lower the language barrier in the field of innovation and entrepreneurship such that it will systematically decouple creative expressions and languages of the transaction, said Dr Chintan Vaishnav, Mission Director, AIM, NITI Aayog, at the launch event of the program.

India may be the first nation to launch such an initiative where an innovation ecosystem catering to 22 languages, plus English, is built. By providing access to learning in one’s language and culture, AIM looks forward to enriching the local, regional, national and global innovation pipelines.