New Delhi’s innovation ecosystem received a seismic jolt on December 18, 2025, as the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) rolled out its transformative “Innovation Drive 2025,” a pan-India program engineered to propel student startups from conceptual sketches to commercial success. Unveiled by AICTE Chairman Prof. T.G. Sitharam at a high-profile virtual conclave co-hosted by the Ministry of Education’s Atal Innovation Mission (AIM), the initiative allocates Rs 1,200 crore over the next 18 months to incubate 60,000 student-led ventures, targeting a 40 percent surge in campus-born enterprises by 2027.