NITI Aayog's Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) will provide financial assistance to 10 different institutions for setting up incubation centres in the first round of funding. Prominent Institutes among the applicants are the CSIR Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology in Telangana, NIFT TEA Knitwear Fashion Institute in Tamil Nadu and Shiv Nadar University in Uttar Pradesh, which will receive financial support for setting up a startup hub on 'Health and Pharmaceuticals, New Materials and Education', according to a release issued by the varsity.

AIM will provide a grant-in-aid of up to Rs 10 crore for a maximum period of five years to the institutions to cover the capital and operational expenditures in establishing the incubation centres to be called - Atal Incubation Centres. Last year, the government think tank had invited applications for establishing new incubation centres with an aim to promote innovation. Applicants, such as R&D institutes, educational institutions and corporates, will have to provide at least 10,000 sq feet of ready-to-use, built-up space, exclusively for the incubation centres.