Microsoft announces Microsoft AI Innovate, Code Titans Hackathon for start-ups in India

Microsoft India has announced two new initiatives that will help entrepreneurs and their organisations innovate and grow. The Microsoft AI Innovate has curated for AI (artificial intelligence) start-ups and will be introducing its second cohort, while the Code Titans Hackathon will help provide resources and support to developers to help create digital solutions that “empower business innovation, social entrepreneurship, and sustainability”.

Microsoft AI Innovate Season Two is now open for nominations from SaaS start-ups whose core applications/services are built using AI technologies. This initiative is supported by SaaS Insider and is designed to help startups “scale their operations, drive greater innovation, and build industry expertise”.

To be held across 10 weeks, Microsoft AI Innovate will have start-ups partnering closely with Microsoft’s product and engineering teams to build their core AI models. This will also include opportunities to work on “relevant scenarios with Microsoft’s industry, research and engineering experts and receive mentorship, along with future-proofing entire teams by getting skilled on technologies like Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning”.

As Microsoft mentioned in the announcement, selected start-ups are going to “receive OpenAI preview and credits, access to industry and technology deep-dive sessions and AI masterclasses by experts, mentoring by start-up founders and renowned industry leaders, skilling and certification opportunities, among other benefits”.

Microsoft AI Innovate’s Season One had 16 start-ups from fintech, manufacturing, logistics, amongst other sectors and they graduated last month and include names like Discover Dollar, Nupay, CargoFL, Trucknetic, RoadMetrics, etc.

The Code Titans Hackathon, presented in association with Techgig, will help start-ups “turn their ideas into prototypes that are built on Microsoft Azure”. “Designed to solve challenges around business innovation, social entrepreneurship and sustainability, the solutions can leverage the best-in-class tools, languages and open-source frameworks that offer flexibility, collaboration, and security of the trusted cloud platform,” Microsoft explained.

“Participating in the hackathon provides start-ups an opportunity to learn from Azure masterclasses and hands-on training sessions on key technologies like Serverless, Kubernetes, Data Fundamentals, Java & .NET, Github and Azure AI & ML, among others,” the company added.

The top 100 shortlisted start-ups will receive $300 (Rs 22,922 approx) worth of Azure credits as part of the hackathon to build their prototype on Azure. The top three teams will win cash prizes, and the top 25 startups will be eligible to join the Microsoft for Startups Founders Hub program.

Microsoft for Startups Founders Hub is a digital platform for startup founders that offers over $300,000 (Rs 22,922,415 approx) worth of benefits and credits and also gives start-ups free access to technology, tools, and resources they need to build and run their business.

Applications for Microsoft AI Innovate is open till May 6 and applications for Code Titans Hackathon are open till May 12.

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