Globally, local governments engage with academic institutions by providing students and fresh graduates internship opportunities to assist in research and fieldwork, thus creating the lab-to-land transfer of innovative solutions. This is mutually beneficial to students in gaining exposure to the functioning of cities and also to local governments as new solutions evolve for the city and a pool of talent gets created for absorption in the market. Activating this triple helix of stakeholders can go a long way in unleashing India’s demographic dividend and creating a talent pool that can pave the way for our cities becoming self-reliant.

TULIP has been envisioned to deliver the above by equipping the youth with problem-solving and critical thinking skills through hands-on, experiential learning in India’s fast-growing urban ecosystem. Experiential learning opportunities in the urban sector will help transform them into future leaders. The flexible nature of the program provides for inclusivity and access, is ecosystem driven and built on the principles of federated architecture and transparency.