Telangana AI Mission announces winners of AI for Social Good Awards

Hyderabad: The Telangana AI Mission (T-AIM) announced the winners for the inaugural AI for Social Good Awards. The award ceremony was held at T-Hub on 7 June 2023. The event also witnessed the launch of “ From Code To Compassion,” a compendium of 15 successful stories of innovation in the social sector innovation that have used artificial intelligence.

In a bid to accelerate AI adoption in India, the awards were instituted to recognise and empower innovative and impactful AI applications for the social sector emerging from India’s startup ecosystem. The awards are supported by the Government of Telangana, Capgemini and NASSCOM.

The awards attracted 128 nominations from AI startups operating in health & sanitation, skill development & livelihoods, and sustainable environment. Each of the three winning startups was recognised and rewarded with INR 7 lakhs of seed funding to further scale their AI innovation for the social sector.

In the health & sanitation category, Sparcolife Digital Health Technologies was adjudicated as the winner. So far, the startup has benefited over 350 women with their AI-enabled solution for women's well-being, reproductive health & fertility care.

Learn & Empower aced the skill development & livelihoods category. This startup improves the learnability of deaf children through fun-based interactive games. Their early release has reached 1,200+ deaf kids across 67 schools in seven states of India.

For the sustainable environment category, Fluid Robotics was chosen as the top startup. This wastewater analytics company uses computer vision and machine learning to monitor wastewater. So far, they have monitored 1.3 billion litres of urban pollution across 1.5 million feet of sewers.

Speaking on the occasion, Jayesh Ranjan, Principal Secretary, IT and Industries Departments,  Government of Telangana, said, “It is truly inspiring to witness the transformative potential of AI in driving social change and creating a positive impact on society. The startups that have been recognized today for their ground-breaking work are leading the way in leveraging AI for social good. Their innovative solutions and approaches have the power to revolutionize these critical areas and improve the lives of millions of people around the world. I congratulate the winners and commend them for their dedication and commitment to using technology for the betterment of society.”

Anurag Pratap, VP & CSR Leader at Capgemini India, said, “As a company dedicated to leveraging technology for the betterment of society, we, at Capgemini, are delighted to have backed this initiative and contributed to acknowledging the exceptional work carried out by these three start-ups."