Nasscom, Microsoft announce pact to accelerate AI-led Innovation in India

The National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom) is launching a new ‘AI Gamechangers’ program in a bid to promote artificial intelligence-led innovation in India.

A part of Nasscom’s ÁI for India mission, the program seeks to recognise impactful and scalable AI-based innovation in the country. Microsoft is the ‘Innovation Partner’ for the program.

Nasscom will work closely with Microsoft to develop and promote the AI Gamechangers program.

The program will recognise innovators for their successful AI implementation at Nasscom’s Xperience AI Summit, one of the largest AI Summits in India.

“This will serve as a platform for startups, enterprises, academia, governments, and NGOs to showcase their AI-based products and solutions, providing reach and impetus to drive AI innovation for the country,” it said in an official release.

It will feature the success stories of the AI innovators in an accompanying annual compendium, which will be released at the Xperience AI Summit.

Nominations for the program can be submitted online. The entries will be judged by a distinguished panel of industry leaders and subject matter experts. Three primary aspects will be taken into consideration while judging- problem selection, solution innovation, and impact achieved.

The nomination window will be open from March 4-April 16, 2021, which will be followed by screening and the final presentations to the Steering Committee and the expert panel.

“The past decades have seen a dramatic growth of innovation and talent in India. While the country continues to leap forward to become the global innovation hub, we expect AI to unlock $500 Bn of value to India’s GDP by 2025. Through this program, we aim to spotlight some of the leading AI-based innovations in the country, not only to recognize their efforts but to motivate the larger ecosystem to leverage this opportunity to help India become a global powerhouse in AI-led innovation,” Debjani Ghosh, President, Nasscom, said.

“Cloud led data and AI innovation offers a huge canvas for India to be the tech engine of the world and drive homegrown innovation. Data and AI are driving transformation at scale across industries and offer a tremendous opportunity to transform public infrastructure and solve some of the most critical issues facing the country today. We are proud to partner with Nasscom on the AI Gamechangers program to create a strong ecosystem that recognizes and supports AI led innovation in the country,” said Anant Maheshwari, President - Microsoft India.