Source: PIB
Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) NITI Aayog and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Sunday hosted a three day long Youth Co: Lab -national innovation challenge in Delhi after a series of successful challenges held in past two phases across the country.
Background
AIM and UNDP, as part of the United Nations Sustainable Development Framework(UNSDF), signed between NITI Aayog and UN India, are collaborating to spread awareness about different issues pertaining to youth, the future of work and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) through Youth Co: Lab. With a presence in over 20 countries in Asia and the Pacific, Youth Co: Lab was launched in India last year in October, in collaboration with Atal Innovation Mission, NITI Aayog.
About Youth Co: Lab
- Aim: Youth Co: Lab launched in collaboration by AIM and UNDP earlier, aims at fostering technology, promoting youth leadership and social entrepreneurship in India.
- Co-created in 2017 by UNDP and the Citi Foundation, and operational in 25 countries across the Asia Pacific region, the Youth Co: Lab initiative aims to create an enabling ecosystem to promote youth leadership, innovation, and social entrepreneurship.
- Youth Co: Lab works at three levels:
- Downstream: directly empowering young aspiring or inspiring entrepreneurs
- Midstream: building the capacity of ecosystem partners to better support youth entrepreneurship and
- Upstream: working with governments to strengthen the enabling environment for youth entrepreneurship.
- Through Youth Co: Lab, young entrepreneurs and innovators will get a chance to connect with governments, mentors, incubators and investors, who will help equip them with entrepreneurial skills.
- The initiative convened a series of youth dialogues across several cities such as New Delhi, Hyderabad, Bangalore and Mumbai to promote entrepreneurship across India.
- The first phase of Youth Co: Lab focused on six SDGs: SDG 5 (Gender Equality), SDG 6 (Clean Water and Sanitation), SDG 7 (Affordable and Clean Energy), SDG 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth), SDG 12 (Sustainable Consumption and Production) and SDG 13 (Climate Action).
- Youth Co: Lab convened social innovation challenges at the national and sub-national level, which is inviting young people in the age group of 18-29 years and start-ups to showcase their proposed ideas and solutions to tackle some of the region’s biggest social challenges.
- Youth Co: Lab has been implemented in 25 countries and territories across the Asia Pacific: Australia, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, Fiji, Hong Kong (SAR), Indonesia, India, Japan, Malaysia, the Maldives, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Samoa, Singapore, Solomon Islands, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Timor Leste, Vanuatu, and Viet Nam.
