NASSCOM and Microsoft announce the AI Gamechangers program to accelerate AI led Innovation in India

A banner image for the AI Gamechangers program
  • Program aims to recognize best AI use cases across  startups, enterprises, academia, governments and nonprofits.
  • Winners will be felicitated at the NASSCOM Xperience AI Summit and their innovations featured in an annual AI compendium.

New Delhi, March 2, 2021: In an effort to promote AI led innovation in the country, the National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) is launching the ‘AI Gamechangers’ program. As part of NASSCOM’s AI for India mission, the program seeks to recognize impactful and scalable AI-based innovation in the country. Microsoft is the ‘Innovation Partner’ for the program.

NASSCOM and Microsoft will work closely to develop and promote the AI Gamechangers program, built on a shared commitment towards accelerating the adoption of AI across key sectors. The program will recognize 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.

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

Speaking on the occasion, Ms. Debjani Ghosh, President, NASSCOM, said, “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.”

Sharing his thoughts on the program, Anant Maheshwari, President – Microsoft India, 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.”

The entries will be judged by a distinguished panel of industry leaders and subject matter experts on three primary aspects of 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.

Nominations for AI Gamechangers can be submitted here – https://nasscom.in/ai-gamechangers/

About NASSCOM
The National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM®) is the premier trade body and chamber of commerce of the Tech industry in India and comprises over 2,800-member companies including both Indian and multinational organizations that have a presence in India. Our membership spans across the entire spectrum of the industry from start-ups to multinationals and from products to services, Global Service Centers to Engineering firms. Guided by India’s vision to become a leading digital economy globally, NASSCOM focuses on accelerating the pace of transformation of the industry to emerge as the preferred enablers for global digital transformation. Our strategic imperatives are to reskill and upskill India’s IT workforce to ensure that talent is future-ready in terms of new-age skills, strengthen the innovation quotient across industry verticals, create new market opportunities – both international and domestic, drive policy advocacy to advance innovation and ease of doing business, and build the Industry narrative with focus on Talent, Trust and Innovation. And, in everything we do, we will continue to champion the need for diversity and equal opportunity.

NASSCOM has played a key role in not just the growth of the Industry to become a $180+Billion industry today, but we have helped establish the Tech industry in India as one of the most trusted partners, globally. NASSCOM continues to make significant efforts in contributing towards India’s GDP, exports, employment, infrastructure development and global visibility. Our membership base constitutes over 95% of the industry revenues in India and employs over 4 million professionals, and as technology blends into every aspect of the economy, we expect the industry to become key driver of growth, development and inclusion for the country. Our mission is to make India a global hub for Innovation and Talent so when the world thinks Digital, the world will think India.

About Microsoft
Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT” @microsoft) enables digital transformation for the era of an intelligent cloud and an intelligent edge. Its mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more. Microsoft set up its India operations in 1990. Today, Microsoft entities in India have over 13,000 employees, engaged in sales and marketing, research, development and customer services and support, across 11 Indian cities – Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, New Delhi, Gurugram, Noida, Hyderabad, Kochi, Kolkata, Mumbai and Pune. Microsoft offers its global cloud services from local data centers to accelerate digital transformation across Indian startups, businesses, and government organizations.

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