India AI Impact Summit emerged as the world’s largest AI summit, reflecting the scale and ambition of India’s AI vision: Shri Ashwini Vaishnaw
India AI Impact Summit emerged as the world’s largest AI summit, reflecting the scale and ambition of India’s AI vision: Shri Ashwini Vaishnaw
The second day of the India AI Impact Summit 2026 concluded with an Awards Ceremony recognising outstanding artificial intelligence innovations across multiple national and global challenges, followed by a cultural programme celebrating India’s rich artistic and cultural heritage. The Awards Ceremony recognised winners across three flagship initiatives — AI by HER, AI for ALL, and YuvaAI, highlighting the Summit’s focus on inclusive innovation, large-scale societal impact, and youth-led participation in India’s AI ecosystem.
A defining theme of the Summit was the empowerment of unconventional innovators and non-traditional coders to build solutions for real-world challenges. Through hackathons and open innovation platforms, the initiative has created opportunities from the grassroots level, ensuring that citizens, young and old alike, do not remain mere users of AI, but become creators and solution-builders. In contrast to traditional technology models where solutions are centrally determined, this approach places ownership in the hands of communities. Participants are encouraged to identify problems they face, harness open AI tools, and build scalable solutions not just for themselves but for society at large, democratising innovation and reinforcing India’s people-centric AI vision.
Congratulating the winners of the Global Innovation Challenges, Shri Ashwini Vaishnaw, Union Minister of Electronics & Information Technology, Information & Broadcasting and Railways, commented, “The India AI Impact Summit has emerged as the world’s largest AI summit, reflecting the scale and ambition of India’s AI vision. I congratulate all the winners for their outstanding contributions and for demonstrating how AI can deliver a transformative impact for society.”
Shri Jitin Prasada, Union Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology and Commerce and Industry of India, said, YuvaAI reflects Ashwini Vaishnaw’s vision that youth are the future of India’s AI journey. “AI is a mix of people, technology, and opportunity, and when everyone has skin in the game and contributes in their own way, India can rise as a major global AI service provider. Initiatives like AI by Her show why inclusion matters because empowering women and youth together is what will truly shape India’s AI future and the responsibility it carries.”
YuvaAI – Global Youth Challenge
The YUVAi – Global Youth Challenge, implemented in partnership with MyBharat and NIELIT, invites young innovators aged 13–21 years to develop AI-based solutions addressing real-world challenges.
Under the YUVAI – Global Youth Challenge, the First Prize winners were Paraspeak, AgniSena, and Z-TRACS, who were awarded grants of ₹15 lakh each. The Second Prize was awarded to CytoScanZ, WAYV, and VOX-AID, with grants of ₹10 lakh each. In addition, MalariaX and KedovoAI received Special Recognition Awards carrying grants of ₹5 lakh each.
AI by HER Challenge
The AI by HER Challenge was designed to recognise and support women-led teams developing impactful AI-driven solutions addressing real-world challenges across sectors such as talent intelligence, health diagnostics, precision nutrition, AI-enabled learning platforms, speech therapy, ESG intelligence, and MSME enablement.
The winner of the AI by HER Challenge was Farmer Lifeline, while Periwinkle Technologies was named First Runner-up. The Second Runner-up position was jointly awarded to Volar Alta and Remidio. Each of the top winners received a grant of ₹25 lakh, and an additional aggregate grant of ₹10 lakh was awarded to selected teams from the Top 10 shortlisted startups under the AI by HER programme.
AI for ALL: Global Impact Challenge
The AI for ALL: Global Impact Challenge recognises scalable AI solutions with the potential to deliver large-scale societal impact across sectors. The programme received a strong global response, with entries evaluated through a rigorous multi-stage process by panels comprising domain experts, policymakers and industry leaders.
Under the AI for ALL Challenge, the Top 10 selected solutions were Infiheal Healthtech Private Limited; EQUITWIN by Infiuss Health; One Global Medical Technology Limited (dba Helium Health); Resilience360; SatSure’s Farm Score for Climate-Smart Lending; Wysa’s conversational AI for improved mental health; Kidaura Innovations Pvt Ltd; MadhuNetrAI for diabetic retinopathy screening; CarbGeM Inc.; and Biome Makers Inc.’s BeCrop® soil intelligence platform. Each of the Top 10 teams was awarded a grant of ₹25 lakh.
These solutions span high-impact areas including healthcare diagnostics, climate-resilient agriculture, financial inclusion through data-led lending, mental health support, soil intelligence and technology-enabled resilience, aligned with key development priorities.
The Awards Ceremony was followed by a cultural programme that showcased India’s diverse artistic traditions. The programme featured “Nṛtta Melakam”, a special dance presentation by Sangeet Natak Akademi, New Delhi, representing multiple states of India and reflecting the country’s cultural plurality, artistic heritage, and the themes of unity, inclusiveness, and national development. The performance brought together artists from across regions, highlighting India’s rich legacy of folk and classical traditions.