The Assam Innovation and Startup Foundation has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Maker Bhavan Foundation to establish Tinkerers’ Labs in select engineering colleges across Assam. The initiative aims to strengthen experiential learning and foster a culture of innovation among engineering students.

What are Tinkerers’ Labs?

• Student-managed maker spaces designed to promote creativity, interdisciplinary collaboration and problem-solving.
• Equipped with advanced fabrication and prototyping tools such as 3D printers, laser cutters, milling machines and electronics workstations.
• Operate on a 24×7 access model, managed by trained student teams under faculty and technical mentorship.

Key features of the MoU

• Hands-on learning: Supports curriculum-integrated projects, structured skilling workshops and solution-oriented prototyping.
• Idea to product: Enables students to convert concepts into tangible prototypes, strengthening innovation outcomes.
• Industry linkage: Improves collaboration between academia and industry, reinforcing the innovation ecosystem.
• Scale and experience: Maker Bhavan Foundation brings experience of impacting over 1,00,000 students through 18 Tinkerers’ Labs nationwide.

Where will the labs be set up?

• Jorhat Institute of Science and Technology, 
• Jorhat Engineering College
• Golaghat Engineering College
  Overall coordination will be handled by the Directorate of Technical Education, Assam.

One-line wrap

Assam’s Tinkerers’ Labs initiative brings round-the-clock, hands-on innovation spaces to engineering campuses, bridging classroom learning with real-world problem-solving.

Exam Hook 

Consider the following statements:

1. Tinkerers’ Labs focus on experiential learning through fabrication and prototyping facilities.
2. The labs will be fully faculty-managed with restricted student access hours.
3. The initiative is part of Assam’s broader startup and innovation ecosystem.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
Answer: 1 and 3 only.

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