Latest news with #A4I
Travel Daily News
26-05-2025
- Business
- Travel Daily News
A4I announces the winners of the first joint call for startup
A4I announces the winning startups, which will validate their solutions in real airports environments across several international hubs in the coming months. For the first time in the aviation industry, ten leading airport operators worldwide have joined forces in Airports for Innovation (A4I), to promote collaboration and innovation and share technological initiatives and digital solutions. A4I's ten driving companies are: Aeroporti di Roma, Aena, Athens International Airport, Aéroports de la Côte d'Azur, Dallas Fort Worth International Airport, Vancouver International Airport, Munich Airport, Dubai Airports, Oman Airports, and Narita International Airport. A4I's first initiative was launching a joint call for startups between September 12, and October 28th, 2024. We wanted to identify new disruptive solutions that could be validated and implemented across our international hubs and eventually be proposed as new benchmarks for the entire industry. The call was open to startups from anywhere in the world. Their innovative proposals had to provide added value in any of the four challenges defined: Challenge 1: Seamless Travel Experience: creating a frictionless, efficient, and highly customer-centric travel experience, from booking a flight to arrival at the final destination. at the final destination. Challenge 2: Sustainable Aviation: make airports even more sustainable and reduce their environmental impact. Challenge 3: Smart Luggage Revolution: develop luggage solutions that go beyond technological advances, to improve convenience, security, and sustainability for travelers. Challenge 4: AI-Powered Airports: enhance operational efficiency, passenger experience, and overall aviation management with Artificial Intelligence applications. The response from the global startup ecosystem was extraordinary: 292 inspiring proposals were submitted by 283 startups from 36 different countries. All applications received were thoroughly evaluated, and the 25 most promising startups were selected as finalists. These startups presented their proposals to all A4I members during the Pitch Days, which took place on January 27th, 28th, and 29th. A4I announces now the winners of the first joint call. These startups will carry out pilot projects in the coming months with the airports that have opted for them. The pilots will provide useful metrics and learnings to validate the startups' solutions in real airport environments and assess their scalability for future implementation. This is the complete list of winners: Challenge 1: Seamless Travel Experience GoodMaps. An indoor navigation platform that uses LiDAR scans and patented computer vision positioning technology, to create detailed and accessible digital maps customizable navigation experiences, available via an app that offers audio, visual and haptic instructions. Challenge 2: Sustainable Aviation Janta Power is a cleantech energy company pioneering the world's first scalable 3D solar technology. Janta's patented system generates up to 3x more power on the same land and delivers ~50% more daily energy than traditional solar. Designed for industrial, commercial, and utility-scale use, it helps solve land scarcity, reduce energy costs, and accelerate the global transition to clean power Challenge 3: Smart Luggage Revolution Pattern. Bringing harmony to airport logistics through robotics and data infrastructure to streamline baggage and ground operations. From planning and forecasting to live operations, autonomous shuttles, and teleoperated robotics, Pattern offers modular solutions tailored to each airport's automation journey. Challenge 4: AI-Powered Airports A weather intelligence platform providing precise weather forecasting to help airports manage operations through proprietary spacebased observations, advanced AI-driven models, and a robust data infrastructure. Ultralytics is the leading force in vision AI, best known for its revolutionary YOLO (You Only Look Once) models. With over 100K GitHub stars, 85 million Pip downloads, 5 Million monthly visits, 1B images analyzed per day, and 4 Million models trained per day, Ultralytics YOLOv5, YOLOv8, and now YOLO11 have become the most widely recognized object detection models globally. Ultralytics empowers users with easy-to-use, cutting-edge AI technology. Our mission is to simplify the use of AI, making it accessible and impactful across industries ranging from manufacturing to healthcare and more. The kick-off event, that took place on May 22nd, has been the starting point of the pilot projects. This act marked the beginning of a strategic collaboration between A4I embers and the selected startups. Over the next few months, these real airport environment tests will assess the impact and scalability of the solutions, aiming to redefine industry standards and establish a new era of innovation in the aviation sector.
Hans India
28-04-2025
- Business
- Hans India
Microsoft and IIIT-Bangalore Launch A4I – the AI Innovation and Inclusion Initiative
Bengaluru: Microsoft and the International Institute of Information Technology Bangalore (IIIT-B) announced the launch of A4I – the AI Innovation and Inclusion Initiative, a collaborative effort aimed at advancing the use of artificial intelligence (AI) to create inclusive, impactful, and scalable solutions for underserved communities. AI holds immense potential to drive meaningful change, especially in areas such as healthcare, education, and accessibility. However, for these technologies to truly benefit society, they must be designed with intentionality and inclusiveness and supported through sustainable partnerships. A4I is rooted in this belief. Through this initiative, Microsoft and IIIT-B will work closely to build a framework for partnerships and sustained scaling and support. This framework will help scale innovations already developed and tested by Microsoft into widely accessible Digital Public Goods (DPGs). The goal is to foster an ecosystem that nurtures AI-driven innovations for long-term societal impact. 'The impact of AI on society will depend not only on its technological sophistication but also on our ability to scale its benefits equitably,' said Prof Debabrata Das, Director, at IIIT-Bangalore. 'A4I will be a flagship initiative within our Centre for Accessibility in the Global South (CAGS), strengthening the commitment to developing and scaling digital solutions that address some of the pressing challenges faced by our communities.'
The Hindu
26-04-2025
- Business
- The Hindu
AI innovation and inclusion initiative launched
Microsoft and the International Institute of Information Technology, Bangalore (IIT-B) launched their new collaborative effort, 'A4I —The AI Innovation and Inclusion Initiative', to advance the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in creating a more inclusive and impactful solution for underserved communities. The event was held at the IIT-B campus and was attended by senior members of Microsoft Philanthropies. Uma Mahadevan, Development Commissioner of Karnataka, joined virtually as the Chief Guest and spoke about the growing potential of AI usage in development and sustainability in education and healthcare. 'We shouldn't aim to reach people at the 'last mile' but rather right from the start, we should be even more ambitious in demanding solutions from technology. AI has the potential to solve problems in human development. With it, we can allow even the illiterate and semi-literate population to contribute at the local level.' The corporate vice-president and global lead of Microsoft Philanthropies, Kate Behncken, also spoke, highlighting the rapid technological growth in the education, healthcare, and agriculture sectors due to the 'AI economy' and how Microsoft plans to utilise it. 'Our main goal is skilling, we aim to skill 10 million people in India by 2030, which will lead to the creation of 2.73 million jobs locally. With it, we can reshape economies and how people live and work.' Through this initiative, Microsoft and IIIT-B will work closely to build a framework for partnerships and sustained scaling and support. The goal is to foster an ecosystem that nurtures AI-driven innovations for long-term societal impact. 'The impact of AI on society will depend not only on its technological sophistication but also on our ability to scale its benefits equitably,' said Debabrata Das, director, IIIT-B. 'A4I will be a flagship initiative within our Centre for Accessibility in the Global South, strengthening our commitment to developing and scaling digital solutions that address some of the pressing challenges faced by our communities.'
