Microsoft AI Innovate enables startups in India for using artificial intelligence to accelerate their development:

Microsoft announced on Wednesday the launch of a new programme called Microsoft AI Innovate, which is aimed at nurturing and scaling startups that use artificial intelligence (AI). The 10-week initiative will assist Indian startups in leveraging AI technologies, assisting them in scaling operations, driving innovation, and continuing to develop industry expertise.

India, which has the world’s third largest startup ecosystem, provides opportunities for emerging businesses to accelerate innovation across industries. Through this exclusive initiative, Microsoft will focus on providing startups with tech and business opportunities to enable them to improve their solutions, transform their entities, and build responsibly in addition to making AI accessible to anyone and everyone. With Microsoft’s sales and partner networks, startups will also be able to reach out to newer customers and regions around the world. Each cohort’s identified startups will have direct exposure to industry deep-dive sessions and AI masterclasses led by industry professionals, along with mentoring from unicorn founders and opportunities for skilling and certification.

Prior to AI Innovate, Microsoft was involved in two similar services for agritech and healthtech startups. Similarly, Amazon, through the AWS Activate programme, provides startups with low-cost, simple-to-use cloud infrastructure.

According to Maheshwari, the AI Innovate programme aims to empower startups to achieve substantial innovation at scale. It will facilitate them in continuing to develop business and industry expertise in AI, in delivering meaningful scenarios in collaborative efforts with Microsoft industry research and engineering experts, in coming generations skilling in AI and ML, and in offering opportunities for mentorship from unicorn founders. “This is just a series of programs and initiatives to help startups get started on their AI journey,” he added.

The programme will divide startups into three categories based on their size, funding, and solution status, and the program’s benefits will vary accordingly. The first category includes all start-ups that have qualified for Seed to Series B funding. Start-ups with enterprise-ready solutions comprise the second category. The third category seeks to assist startups in visualising their solutions with the assistance of industry experts. The goal is to create a future-ready solution with the help of AI professionals and partner experts, and then see if it can be improved.

Microsoft AI Innovate aims to bring together startups, corporations, industry bodies, governments, and venture capital firms to create a shared learning and innovation platform. To learn more about the programme, go to aka.ms/MSAIInnovate.