Dell Technologies firmly believes in investing in human capital for that has a meaningful impact on human progress. Dell Technologies believes in leveraging technology to enable children around the world, to cultivate their own experiences and thereby improving their lives. The key is to connect technology to those who need it the most, and that’s where Dell Model School and Dell Skilling Center Program(s) come into play. With projections estimating that 85% of the existing jobs will be depleted by 2030, Dell Technologies aims to play an important role in ensuring that the future workforce is digitally empowered.

Partnership with NITI Aayog

Dell Technologies’ partnered with NITI Aayog, a policy ‘Think Tank’ of the Government of India, to support their one-of-a-kind initiative of Atal Tinkering Labs (ATLs) to implement their program in various state and central government education institutions. The collaboration began in 2017 with an objective to build models of excellence in ATL Schools for innovation and inclusiveness so as to make the future generation workready. The initiative aimed to support the under-represented communities and youth to effectively start using technology to create and shape opportunities as opposed to just merely consuming the readily accessible avenues. This collaboration enabled for a positive shift to take place – propelling students to take ownership of their own learning in ways more than one, thereby sustaining curiosity and innovation while broadening their sense of possibility and making them ready for workforce 2030.

A total of 106 ATL schools including 60 Kendriya Vidyalaya’s and 20 Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya’s h a v ebeen adopted by  Dell Technologies for implementing the ATL initiatives. In 2018, with the aim to engage in this multi-level process which focused on expanding sustained impact from students to community, the concept of “Community Makerspace” was shaped. It aims to promote inclusion in innovation by leveraging technology to drive education and empower communities, stretching well beyond the spectrum of just students. This impactful exposure to cutting edge scientific-knowledge gave way to exciting new projects in ATL schools across the country. To bring this innovation to the forefront, AIM launched The Tinkering Marathon- a nation-wide prototype showcase & submission event where students devised innovative ideas by leveraging technology and providing communities with sustainable solutions for everyday problems. The top 30 teams were granted a three month-long program under Student Innovator Program (SIP) supported by Dell Technologies and six teams emerged as the winners. These six winner teams attended a 3 days Boot Camp in Delhi, organized by Dell Technologies, where they were exposed to product marketability. The winners were felicitated at an event ‘Nayee Dishayen Naye Nirman Naya Bharat’ on National Youth Day, 2019 by Amitabh Kant and Alok Ohrie. An ATL Handbook that would serve as a ready reckoner for scaling the ATL initiative across the country was also released on the same day. In addition, the Handbook has also been translated into 6 regional languages and has been distributed to every state.

To truly take this innovation further by guiding and empowering the winners, a 10 month ‘Student Entrepreneurship Program’ (SEP) in partnership with NITI Aayog was launched. This SEP program supported the top six teams in areas concerning mentoring, technical support, product marketability, funding and incubation opportunity, patenting etc. Through the Internship, Dell volunteers worked with the student innovators and mentored them in creating a test bed and collect customer feedback, provide support to manufacture a fully functional market ready product, patent their ideas/process and help them launch their product in the market.

Gaming Solution

In order to further develop skills ranging from creativity, critical thinking and logic by leveraging the power of technology, Dell Technologies in partnership with NITI Aayog developed a gaming platform to enhance the new age skills among children and youth. The Gaming Solution has been made available to all ATL schools in the country and has truly been a remarkable initiative. The platform has impacted more than 1.5 million students so far and is still counting.

AIM also launched the Tinker from Home initiative during the lockdown period to ensure that the student’s education continues. Dell Technologies has collaborated in this initiative as well and series of webinars and hand holding sessions have been held to encourage students to develop games. The contest has seen a great response form the children and more than 900+ games have been received as entries from nearly 1,000 schools. Dell employees volunteered to evaluate the entries and the top 10 winning entries of the challenge were rewarded by Dell Technologies.

Student Entrepreneurship Program 2.0 Following the success of Student Entrepreneurship Program 1.0 (SEP), SEP 2.0 was launched in partnership with AIM to nurture young budding innovators on their entrepreneurial journey. SEP 2.0 focuses on the Top 8 Teams of Innovation Marathon 2018, including student innovators & mentors. The program will focus on engaging with the students on a deeper level by arranging for transformational learning opportunities. These teams are working closely with the volunteers and mentors of Dell Technologies to extend industry insights, support with manufacturing and patenting the product, thus converting the innovators into entrepreneurs.

She Codes Innovation Program 1.0 The initiative was launched virtually on August 27, 2020 in the presence of Amitabh Kant, CEO, NITI Aayog, Government of India, Ramanan Ramanathan, Mission Director, Atal Innovation Mission & Additional Secretary, NITI Aayog, Aongus Hegarty, President, International Markets, Dell Technologies; Amit Midha, President, Asia Pacific & Japan, Global Digital Cities, Dell Technologies and Alok Ohrie, President and Managing Director, Dell Technologies India. The program aims to give the girls a chance to be an agent of change, thus involving themselves in creating a paradigm shift in the minds of their peers, educators, communities and individuals alike. Top 30 teams of ATL innovation marathon 2018 were offered a mentorship program and the few select innovations would be offered a Student Entrepreneurship Program that would include Internship , Product Development, Patent & Product Launch at Dell Campus.

Program Reach

Dell Technologies has adopted ATL schools from across the country and the details are as follows –

• 17 schools – 2017
  • 26 schools – 2018
  • 106 schools – 2019
  • All ATL schools for Gaming Solution – 2020

Students impacted

• ATL schools – 40,000 + students
  • Gaming Solution – 1.5 million
  • SheCodes – 2230
  • SEP – 1420

Achievements

Student innovators from across India got a chance to represent India in many forums, contests, awards and conferences. The students have represented India in 16 international forums, 54 national forums and 51 regional/zonal forums. Students have interacted with various international delegates, Government of India representatives, industry experts and senior management leaders from various organizations. Here is a glimpse of some of the most resounding success stories from across the country:

International Recognition

• AIM – Sirius Deep Learning Program: The student beneficiaries of ATL intervention got selected to represent our country in an advanced research-based program at Sochi, Russia. From the rigorous process of selection, 5 students and 1 ATL in charge from ATL schools supported by Dell Technologies were selected for a seven-day residential educational learning and innovation program focused on Deep Technologies at SIRIS Center in Sochi. The students received high appreciation from Prime Minister of India and President of Russia.
• Inspreneur 3.0: Students from ATL i n t e r v e n t i o n a n d S t u d e n t Entrepreneurship Program 1.0 got an opportunity to represent India on a global platform. Six students and three teachers represented our country in the third edition of the India-Singapore Innovation and Start-up summit organized by the High Commission of India, Singapore. The event was focused around fostering and harnessing the culture of innovation to build a strong relationship between India and Singapore.
• AIM–Sirius Innovation Program 3.0: Atal Innovation Mission, NITI Aayog has introduced the first bilateral Indo-Russian Youth Innovation Initiative for school students in collaboration with the Sirius Centre to give them an opportunity to express their novel ideas and innovative solutions. A student and a mentor from beneficiary schools qualified to represent India. Mr. Gyanendra from Dell Technologies, Bengaluru assisted students from both the countries in developing their innovations leveraging 21st-century t e c h n o l o g i e s s u c h a s a p p development, artificial intelligence, blockchain, machine learning, virtual reality, augmented reality, gamification, 3D design among others.
• SHE STEM: Women Leading the Way: The embassy of Sweden in India, in collaboration with Atal Innovation Mission, NITI Aayog, organized, “SHE STEM: Women Leading the Way”, a virtual event to celebrate women scientists and entrepreneurs in Sweden and India. Recognizing the contribution of the youth towards innovation, KLSP Varshini, a student from Dell Model School, APSWRS School Centre of Excellence, Visakhapatnam was invited to share her innovation, multipurpose agricultural robot to help Indian farmers gauge soil and weather conditions and to ignite the passion among young girls towards science and technology.

National Level Achievements

• Six students and 2 mentors from 2 ATL intervention schools got a golden opportunity to represent their out-of-the-box ideas and innovative prototypes showcasing the robust paradigm shift(s) of our country to the Hon’ble President of India, Shri Ramnath Kovind at Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Delhi on the occasion of Children’s Day 2019. The President of India interacted with the student innovators of Atal Tinkering Labs and he was impressed by their ideas and the zeal to find solutions to some of the problems that we face today.
• A team of three students from beneficiary school was recognized by Minister of Education, Tamil Nadu and won a cash award for their “AI Biometric Voting Machine”. This project secured its way into top 8 entries of Nationwide T i n k e r i n g M a r a t h o n 2 0 1 8 . Additionally, two students from this team have been nominated to receive the honorary Balshree Award from Government of India.
• Two girl innovators from ATL intervention Schools got an opportunity to interact and showcase their innovations, Krishi Vardhan – Cattle Alert System and Agro-Mitra to the Hon’ble Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy. He interacted with students and was impressed by their ground breaking ideas and the zeal to integrate technology in agriculture and rewarded them with `1 lakh each.
• Three Teachers from beneficiary school got featured in Top 10 teams of Dell Policy Hackathon organized by Dell Technologies and UNESCO jointly. A first-of-its-kind hackathon for teachers where the selected educators presented their ideas on “Bridging the divide in a diverse classroom – how can access to technology be a leveler” during TECH 2019 conference.

Testimonials

“Today, I am full of optimism, as I witness the promising innovations by the young pioneers of ATLs. These innovators make me wonder what the young children of this nation can achieve when given the opportunity to think unconventionally to combat challenges faced by their fellow citizens. As we conclude SEP 1.0 and launch SEP 2.0, I am excited to see the impact that these innovations will create in the country”- Rajiv Kumar, Vice Chairperson, NITI Aayog, Govt. of India. “We are noticing a huge rise in women-led start-ups and innovations in India and we believe that this is only the beginning. I am elated to share that Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) and Dell Technologies have come together to encourage girl innovators, through the launch of ‘SheCodes Innovation Challenge”- Amitabh Kant, CEO, NITI Aayog, Govt. of India. “We hope to encourage girls to pursue their dreams, by ensuring that they have access to the best resources available and we aim to give these girls the platform that will enable them and accelerate their readiness to be future leaders and entrepreneurs.” – Aongus Hegarty, President, International Markets, Dell Technologies.

“Technology is a powerful tool that can break barriers and create new possibilities. At Dell we believe that technology should be used as a force for good and human progress. With our continued partnership with NITI Aayog, we aim to make a difference to the world through a technology-led approach balancing social inclusion, innovation and entrepreneurship. Through such programs, we committed to inspire millions of students across India to take powerful and magnificent strides towards entrepreneurship and next-generation leadership. We look forward to conceptualizing more programs that are focused at driving innovation-led growth, and truly contribute to Nation Building.” – Alok Ohrie, President and Managing Director, Dell Technologies India.