India AI Impact Summit 2026 Showcases Women-Led AI for Public Good and Digital Public Infrastructure
India AI Impact Summit 2026 Showcases Women-Led AI for Public Good and Digital Public Infrastructure
The AI By HER Global Impact Challenge, a flagship programme of the India AI Impact Summit 2026, convened women innovators, founders, researchers, policymakers, and ecosystem leaders for a full day of discussions and startup showcases focused on building impact-first, inclusive, and responsible AI. The challenge spotlighted how women-led innovation is shaping India’s AI trajectory, from school-level problem solving and deep-tech research to scalable startups addressing healthcare, sustainability, security, and public infrastructure.
The event brought together thematic panel discussions, rapid startup spotlight pitches, and expert-led conversations that collectively demonstrated how AI innovation anchored in empathy, trust, and long-term vision can translate into measurable societal outcomes.
The programme opened with the panel discussion Her First Algorithm: India’s Next Breakthrough, a session that explored how innovation is often sparked by empathy, curiosity, and lived experience. Moderated by Ms Deepali Upadhyay, Programme Lead, Atal Innovation Mission, the session featured young women innovators from Nagarjuna Model School (Andhra Pradesh), Dell Public School (Greater Faridabad), and Adarsh Public School (Delhi), who showcased AI solutions addressing artisan livelihoods, grain storage inefficiencies, and chronic health conditions. The discussion also highlighted the role of national initiatives such as the Atal Innovation Mission in institutionalising innovation across schools, higher education institutions, and startups.
The panel discussion From Lab to Lives: Turning Innovation into Impact focused on how research-driven innovation can be translated into scalable, deployable solutions across sectors such as healthcare, agriculture, and fintech. Moderated by Ms Meghna Bal, Director, Esya Centre, the panel brought together Dr Anurag Agrawal, Dean, BioSciences and Health Research, Ashoka University, Mr Hemendra Mathur, Venture Partner and Co-founder, Bharat Innovation Fund and ThinkAg, and Mr Ravindra Misra, Chief Product Officer, OPL Innovate. The discussion emphasised the importance of trust, sector-specific design, responsible data use, and leveraging India’s Digital Public Infrastructure to move from experimentation to sustained impact.
The session Rewriting the Startup Playbook: Not Despite. Because of HER. examined how women founders are building strong, scalable businesses by leaning into clarity, preparation, and long-term resilience. Moderated by Mr Rahul Matthan, Partner, Trilegal, the panel featured Ms Kanika Tekriwal, Founder and CEO, JetSetGo Aviation Services, Ms Rucha Nanavati, Chief of Advanced Technologies, Farm Equipment Business, Mahindra & Mahindra, and Ms Sarita Ahlawat, MD & Co-founder, BotLab Dynamics. The conversation highlighted how disciplined execution, strong networks, and consistent effort are helping women founders navigate evolving problem statements and scale across complex industries.
Building Things to Transform: Breaking the Mould explored how founders can move beyond incremental innovation to build infrastructure-level AI solutions addressing systemic gaps. Moderated by Ms Debjani Ghosh, Distinguished Fellow, NITI Aayog and Chief Architect, Frontier Tech Hub Initiative, the panel included Dr Sunita Maheshwari, Chief Dreamer, The Telerad Group, Mr Vidur Mahajan, Founder & CEO, CARPL.ai, and Dr Nagendra Nagaraja, CEO, Founder & Chairman of Board, QpiAI India Pvt Ltd. The discussion focused on long-term conviction, ecosystem collaboration, and the need to translate complex technologies into scalable, sustainable business models.
Interspersed throughout the day were Startup Spotlight sessions, featuring concise 10-minute pitches by selected women-led AI ventures working across diverse sectors:
The day concluded with the session From Access to Acceleration: How WEP Supports Women Founders featuring Ms Anna Roy, Mission Director, Women Entrepreneurship Platform (WEP), and Programme Director at NITI Aayog, who outlined WEP’s role in building a comprehensive enabling ecosystem for women entrepreneurs—from aspiration to scale. “Our vision at WEP is empowerment—Shakti—where we enable behaviour change, provide access to the right knowledge at the right time, and support women entrepreneurs from aspiration through to scaling their enterprises”, said Ms Anna Roy. Furthermore, she also announced a dedicated capacity-building programme for 150 shortlisted women-led AI startups, which will include structured mentorship and networking support in collaboration with ecosystem partners, underscoring that entrepreneurial success requires holistic support across all pillars.
She concluded the day by announcing the Top 10 winners: Able Credit, Aso AI, Power Lifeline, Veryfi Technologies, Project Drives, Prosigo Language, Videos HR, That Creating, Water Ultra AR, and Zico AR, and congratulated them on their impressive performance across evaluation rounds.