Gangtok: Sikkim has 27 Atal Tinkering Labs (ATLs) established in its schools, with 24 more proposed under the next phase of the Atal Innovation Mission (AIM), as a stakeholder consultation under NITI Aayog’s Frontier Region Programme focused on expanding the state’s innovation ecosystem and improving access to entrepreneurship programmes.
According to data presented during the consultation, Sikkim has 271 schools eligible for Atal Tinkering Labs based on the Unified District Information System for Education (UDISE), with 27 existing labs and 24 proposed new labs. The presentation listed a post-coverage ratio of 15 per cent. The state’s school ecosystem comprises approximately 1,210 schools, 1.16 lakh students and 15,180 teachers, highlighting the potential reach of school-level innovation initiatives.
Prateek Deshmukh, Programme Director, Atal Innovation Mission, NITI Aayog, said the consultation was aimed at understanding Sikkim’s local innovation ecosystem and identifying ways to customise national programmes to meet the state’s requirements.
The consultation brought together representatives from the Education and Commerce and Industries departments, along with teachers from existing Atal Tinkering Labs in Sikkim. Discussions focused on infrastructure constraints, financial compliance challenges and the need to improve implementation of innovation programmes.
One of the key issues identified was the difficulty some schools faced in completing financial compliances, preventing them from applying for subsequent instalments of grants. Deshmukh said AIM would organise a joint session with teachers to help them complete the required documentation and access further funding for upgrading and maintaining their laboratories.
He also highlighted the challenges faced by schools in remote areas in meeting the earlier requirement of 1,000 square feet of space for setting up an ATL.
“Many schools are situated in remote areas where even 1,000 square feet of space is difficult to provide. That is why not many schools were able to apply,” he said.
Deshmukh said the original mandate of the Atal Innovation Mission was to establish 10,000 Atal Tinkering Labs across the country, with geographical spread and applications forming part of the selection process. The upcoming phase involving 24 new ATLs in Sikkim would consider certain relaxations in requirements to enable more schools to participate.
The presentation also highlighted the scale of the country’s startup ecosystem, with approximately two lakh startups in India compared to 30 in Sikkim. It identified the state’s existing school network and emerging entrepreneurial activity as opportunities to strengthen the innovation pipeline.
Deshmukh said the consultation had also examined Sikkim’s performance in the India Innovation Index 2021, in which the state scored 13.85 in the North Eastern and Hill States category, improving its position from 10th in 2020 to sixth in 2021.
The index placed Sikkim below the category average score of 14.41. Among the leading states in the category, Manipur scored 19.37, Uttarakhand 17.67 and Meghalaya 16.00, while Arunachal Pradesh recorded 15.46 and Himachal Pradesh 14.62.
The presentation identified human capital and investment as areas where Sikkim performed strongly, while indicating scope for improvement in knowledge workers, business environment, safety and legal environment, knowledge output and knowledge diffusion. The findings were discussed in the context of developing targeted interventions to strengthen the state’s innovation performance.
The consultation also examined how the Frontier Region Programme could adapt innovation models to the specific needs of regions such as Jammu and Kashmir, the Northeast and aspirational districts and blocks. A presentation on the programme cited participation in the 2024 Tinkering Marathon in Jammu and Kashmir as an example of how customised ATL templates could support participation, with the region’s participation reported at ten times the national average.
Deshmukh stressed that developing an innovation ecosystem would require stronger coordination among government departments, educational institutions, incubation centres and industries.
“If a school student is curious enough to develop their own project, they would require subsequent support from higher education institutions, incubation centres and industries,” he said, adding that school education, higher education, commerce and industry, skill development and incubation institutions would need to work together.
He said the objective was to create a continuous pipeline for innovators, from schools to higher education and eventually to incubation, industry and markets.
“We have everything right here in the state. We have the experts, we have the equipment. It is just about connecting the dots and creating that entire pipeline,” he said.
The consultation was held alongside a two-day convergence at the AIC-SMU Technology Business Incubation Foundation in Majitar, Rangpo, bringing together the second Himalayan Investors’ Meet, second North East Entrepreneurs Dialogue, NITI Aayog Frontier Region Programme and the fourth Entrepreneurs’ Meet 2026.