All Posts by Himanshu Sheth

|In: General|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

Drivers rely on the car’s tires to help them sail through any terrain. Some drivers take great care of their car’s tires so that they do not let them down in tricky situations. However, a tire burst situation is nightmarish for a driver. Such a situation can escalate into a disaster if a car flips over on a highway. This way, the accident has the scope to become much bigger. The cars coming from behind also become vulnerable to accidents.

Image Source

Recent developments with respect to car’s tires and the braking technology have reduced the chances of a flip-over in case of a tire burst. However, every now and then, newspapers carry a tragic story of a car toppling over on a highway due to tire burst. Let’s hope you never face such a situation. Read ahead to know how to handle a tire burst so that you are better equipped if you ever face such an unfortunate event.

It is not a race, slow down!

An open highway, favorite music, and a mate to sing along can encourage you to press that accelerator a little more than needed. On top of it, if your car’s windows are rolled up, then there is high chance that you are oblivious to the speed at which you are travelling, unless you keep an eye on the speedometer.

Remember, you don’t have the driving license to show off your racing skills, it can be dangerous for you and others. It is a known fact that tire burst at a higher speed is more damaging than tire burst at a lower speed. If your car’s tire bursts at a lower speed, you still have the opportunity to control the car and avoid huge losses. In case of tire burst, decrease the speed gradually.

Don’t pull that foot off the accelerator immediately

Primary instinct of a driver in case of any unusual event is to slow down and drop the anchor. However, in case of a tire burst, it will be helpful if you do not pull your foot off immediately from the accelerator. The vehicle will lose its speed anyway due to the tire burst. If you also reduce the speed drastically, you will end up losing control.

Brake but not too much

Braking is important but not at once. Slamming the brakes in case of a tire burst will not help you to control the car. Hard braking will further imbalance the vehicle. Hit the brake, but slowly.

Keep pointing ahead

Do not steer it left or right as chances of the car losing composure is more in such cases. Hold the steering firmly and just keep moving forward so that you have a better vision. Use the steering to not let the car drift away rather than using it for vehement maneuvering.

Push a bit and park properly

You do not want to stop bang in the middle of the road and risk the chances of getting hit by a speeding truck. Push your car to go ahead even if the tires have given in. Drive your car to the side of the road and then park it. When parked, make sure to keep the parking lights on.

Go for an extensive car insurance policy

Just as it is compulsory to hold a valid drivers license to drive a vehicle, it is also compulsory to purchase a car insurance online or offline. It is suggested to go for a Comprehensive Car Insurance policy and strengthen it with suitable Add-ons. For example, a Roadside Assistance Add-on can prove extremely handy in case of a tire burst. You can raise a car insurance claim for damages to your car and minimize financial losses because of an insurance policy. Nowadays it has become easier to purchase insurance and raise a car insurance claim.

Ride slow, get insurance, and stay alert.

|In: General|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

You are on your way towards your destination but suddenly, panic strikes! The low fuel sign is begging you to feed the car. There’s less fuel in your tank and this has severely affected your state of mind. Does this seem familiar? Drivers at some point in time have faced such a situation or have been perilously close to being in one.

Image Source – Car Fuel

In case you want to avoid being in the panic mode, read ahead to know how to handle a situation where your car is running out of fuel.

Keep calm and drive

Yes, the empty fuel sign can be scary. However, your car hasn’t stopped yet, has it? This means it has fuel. Which also means that you can continue your journey. It is important to keep calm in such a scenario as it will help you to think. It will also help to focus on the road ahead. Remember, you still have to stay alert and follow all the traffic rules while you are driving. Driving with a low fuel tank doesn’t give you the right to overlook traffic rules.

Time for a treasure hunt

Low fuel warning means you need to refuel. Fuel in such a scenario is nothing less than treasure and every search for treasure begins with a treasure map. If your car is low on fuel while you are in a familiar area, you know where the fuel station is located. However, if you are in an unfamiliar location, the maps on your mobile phone might come in handy. Check out for the nearest fuel station and drive towards it even if you have to move away from your route. Rerouting is better than getting stranded. You can also ask around for the nearest fuel station.

Avoid traffic, don’t start-stop

Maps will also highlight traffic, avoid high-traffic routes, it will save those precious drops of fuel from burning. Roads with high-traffic demand your car to be driven in a start-stop manner. This takes a toll on the car and it needs more fuel. It is suggested to look for an alternate route that has low traffic if your car is low on fuel.

Turn off the AC

Cars generally consume more fuel when their air conditioning is switched on. The car’s engine has to work extra when the AC is on, this means it needs more fuel. In such cases, fuel consumption can increase by almost 15~20%. Turning off the AC might increase the temperature inside the car but it will help to reduce fuel consumption.

No revving the engine

Unnecessary revving the engine will increase its fuel consumption. Your gear changing and accelerating has to be in sync in order to save fuel. This way, the car’s engine will not face a heavy load.

What to do in case of car breakdown?

In case you fail in your attempts to conserve fuel and your car breaks down, you will have to abandon your car, visit the petrol pump either by hitchhiking or through other means of transport, get fuel and refuel your car. However, if you have an extensive Comprehensive Car Insurance policy with the Roadside Assistance cover, you do not have to make any effort to get your car back on track.

You can simply call the four wheeler insurance company from where you purchased your car insurance policy and request them for roadside assistance. They might arrange for fuel or manage the situation with the help of a towing service. Your car can breakdown because of lots of issues and towing service can be extremely helpful in such cases.

|In: Technology|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

Pitney Bowes Inc., a global technology company that provides commerce solutions in the areas of e-commerce, shipping, mailing, and data, released the Pitney Bowes Parcel Shipping Index –  the industry’s most comprehensive parcel shipping report along with shipping-related insights across 13 countries representing 3.7 billion people. The survey reports that parcel shipping generated USD $279 billion in revenue last year, an increase of 11 percent over 2016.

Parcel volume globally grew 17 percent last year to 74.4 billion parcels, up from 63.6 billion in 2016. This was in the 17-28 percent growth projection range given in last year’s Pitney Bowes Parcel Shipping Index. On average, there were 22 parcels shipped per person globally, and 2,300 parcels shipped every second.

China once again reported the largest parcel volume growth at 28 percent year-over-year (YOY). India followed China with a year-on-year growth at 15%. Parcel volume in India grew at the slowest pace in the past five years as customers placed fewer online orders in response to demonetization and implementation of GST.

Lila Snyder, President, Commerce Services at Pitney Bowes said

Globally, e-commerce continues to drive growth in all regions. Global ecommerce giants continue to raise the bar, resetting consumer expectations when it comes to shipping. As retailers and marketplaces race to keep up with increasing consumer expectations, carriers must create efficient, seamless services that deliver in a world of ‘fast and free’ e-commerce shipping.

The Index expects global shipping volume to surpass 100 billion parcels in 2020 in aggregate across the 13 countries reviewed – Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Norway, Sweden, United Kingdom and the United States.

Key Findings by Region

Asia Pacific [Australia, China, India, Japan]

  • Australia shipped 841 million parcels at 34 parcels per person an 8 percent increase YoY.
  • China’s parcel volume reached 40.1 billion in 2017, or 1,270 parcels shipped each second. With the highest parcel volume in the study, China is up 28 percent YoY shipping 29 parcels per person in 2017.
  • India shipped just 1 parcel per person in 2017, yet grew 15 percent YoY reaching a total of 1.5 billion parcels shipped. However, domestic and international carriers and retailers remain upbeat on future prospects of the Indian market, and have made sizeable investments in logistics segment of the country.
  • Japan shipped 76 parcels per person in 2017 with YoY growth at 2 percent and a total parcel volume shipped at 9.6 billion.

View the Pitney Bowes Shipping Index interactive map and infographic to learn more.

About the Pitney Bowes Parcel Shipping Index

The Pitney Bowes Parcel Shipping Index measures parcel volume and spend for business-to-business, business-to-consumer, consumer-to-business and consumer consigned shipments with weight up to 31.5 Kg [70 pounds] across Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Norway, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States. Population data points were sourced from the International Monetary Fund, World Economic Outlook Database published in October 2017. The Pitney Bowes Parcel Shipping Index spans 13 countries and represents the parcel shipping activity of 3.7 billion people.

|In: Technology|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

How much money a person is ready to part with for rent is indicative of the lifestyle the person wants to maintain. The brand of the mobile phone a customer carries may reveal the amount of house rent they might be willing to pay. A recent study conducted by Housing and Makaan, indicates that customers using a phone that costs more than Rs 50,000 would be willing to pay 20% higher rent with an average budget of Rs 25,000 per month.

Data from the study suggest that on average, a user with a Phone Price Bucket [PPB] of less than Rs 10,000 would be ready to pay anywhere between Rs 10,000 to Rs 17,000 per month depending on the city with an average budget of Rs 14,000 per month. The study indicates that customers who own a phone between Rs 10,000 ~ 20,000 would likely be willing to spend an average of Rs 16,300 per month on a rental home. Customers who spend between Rs 20,000 to Rs 50,000 on their phone would be willing to pay 27% higher than the previous category and their average budget would likely be Rs 20,700 per month.

Rental cost trends in key cities

  • Mumbai has the maximum average rental at Rs 23,000 per month which is 30% higher than Chennai that offers home at an average rent of Rs 17,600 per month.
  • New Delhi’s average rent closely follows Chennai’s and is at Rs 17,300 per month followed by Hyderabad at Rs 16,400 per month.
  • Kolkata, where average rental rates stand at Rs 11,400 per month is the most inexpensive location when it comes to rent among the major metros. Pune at Rs 13,200 per month is the next pocket-friendly rental hotspot.
  • 45~47% of property seekers in Mumbai, Chennai and Hyderabad use a phone that is in the range of Rs 10,000~20,000 to search for homes on rent.  However, rental home seekers in New Delhi used a phone in the range of Rs 20,000~50,000 category.
  • About 49% of rental home seekers in Kolkata searched properties for rent with a phone that falls in the bracket of Rs 10,000~20,000. However, the next big bracket is of users who use a phone within Rs 10,000.

Commenting on these trends Ravi Bhushan, Group Chief Product and Technology Officer,Housing.com, PropTiger.com, Makaan.com said

High-end mobile phones are predictive of a person’s economic status. The choice of brand of phone and housing is indicative of the lifestyle one wants to maintain and a correlation between the two is intuitive. The study confirms that customers who spend higher on their gadgets will naturally do so for their homes as well but quantifies it for the first time.

Tracking the trends and demand

  • About 85% of the demand lies within Rs 20,000 per month category. Statistics also show that maximum phone users searching for rental homes own a phone priced between Rs 10,000 to 20,000. The next big category is that of consumers who own phones worth Rs 20,000~50,000 followed by those who own phones priced less than Rs 10,000.
  • The average national rental budget is Rs 14,000 per month and the majority of Indians are looking for affordable rental properties.
  • Following the trend, about 47% of prospective tenants in tier II cities were looking for properties priced between Rs 10,000-20,000 per month. Just like other major metros barring Kolkata, most users have phones in the range of Rs 10,000 to 20,000.
  • About 22% of property seekers, nationally, are looking for homes priced within Rs 10,000 per month. Among major cities, Kolkata has maximum seekers within this range at 26% followed by Chennai at 25%, Pune at 23% and Tier II cities at 22%.
  • In almost all the cities, affordable to mid-priced rental homes are majorly in demand, and less than 2% rental home seekers are likely to want homes priced above Rs 50,000 per month.
  • Within this category, Mumbai [2.44%], Hyderabad [2.42%] and Noida [2.19%] witness the most number of buyers in the premium category of rental homes. Data suggest that these property seekers are either iPhone users or Samsung Galaxy Premium users.
  • Common phones used for property searches include iPhone and Android phones such as Moto G4, Galaxy J Series, Acer Iconia, Lenovo Vibe, Honor, HTC Desire and other brands including Redmi, Oppo, and Vivo. The cities included in the study are Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Delhi, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Noida, Gurugram, Greater Noida, Pune.

|In: Technology|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

Aeris, a technology leader in the Internet of Things [IoT], has announced its partnership with Hello Tractor in Africa to launch Tractors-as-a-Service in India and the ASEAN region in the session ‘India-Africa–ASEAN: Internet of Things [IoT] in Agriculture‘ organized in association with The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry [FICCI] in New Delhi. Industry leaders and diplomats from Indian, ASEAN and African embassies in New Delhi were part of this event.

With the Aeris IoT platform, called Aeris Mobility Platform [also known as AMP], tractor tracking, utilization time and billing is simplified, based on time in the field and area covered. Our partnership enables the pay-as-you-use model for small holding farmers to use tractors with innovative commercial models. Hello Tractor’s innovative use of IoT simplifies complex data to ensure transparency, profitability, and accountability across the ecosystem of farmers, tractor owners, tractor dealers, original equipment manufacturers, banks, and governments.

The Tractor Owner App includes tools such as, service request management, tractor and fleet management, operator performance, and activity tracking. Using the technology to their advantage, the farmers are able to plant 40 times faster at one-third the cost. The digital IoT platform is making it easy and profitable for tractor owners to monetize their machines as business assets whilst improving the livelihood of rural farmers.

The session was presided over by Ambrish Bakaya, Co-Chair of FICCI ICT and Digital Economy Initiative. Tractors form an integral part of farm mechanization and have a crucial role to play in increasing agricultural productivity. In ASEAN, per capita arable land area is 0.12 hectare, among the smallest in the world. Across the regions, the small landholdings make it unviable for farmers to own agri-machinery and implements like tractors, rotary and power tillers, rotators, seed drillers and other efficient farm equipment. In India less than 30 percent of farmers use the necessary equipment that facilitates productive and profitable work. Farmers can barely afford high-cap equipment and often take loans to buy them. This often adds onto the financial burden in a bad crop yield season. Also, small farmers often lack knowledge about modern farming practices or struggle to finance farm operations.

India, Africa and ASEAN has its roots in agrarian societies and agriculture occupies a special role in the socioeconomic development. It is an important driver for social, inclusive growth; an essential source of export earnings; a guarantor of food availability to its citizens; and a source of employment directly and through agriculture-related, value adding activities. Leveraging the partnership with Hello Tractor in the African region, Aeris India brings on-demand farming capabilities to the predominantly agrarian economies of India and ASEAN.

Jehiel Oliver, Founder & CEO, Hello Tractor said

There is no doubt agricultural mechanization is having an impact on Indian, African and ASEAN farmers’ efficiency, resource management, and productivity. The magnitude of that impact moving forward will largely depend on the private sector, government, and the public working together. Hello Tractor and Aeris have partnered to make a significant step toward amplifying this positive impact in India, Africa and the APAC region. This alliance will help farmers access more affordable, dependable, and transparent tractor services that can make a real difference in shaping the future of agriculture.

Dr. Rishi Mohan Bhatnagar, President, Aeris India said

Our world has many challenges to solve and we at Aeris are committed to delivering innovative technology solutions to serve the unserved. Majority of the farmers in the predominantly agrarian societies, such as India and ASEAN countries, have less than five acres of land and can barely afford high-cap equipment.

We wanted to help the farmer by offering accessible and affordable farm mechanized equipment service and enable economic advancement. After successful alliance with Hello Tractor to enable ‘Tractor-as-a-Service’ in Africa, we are now launching this in India and the ASEAN region. The service eliminates the need to invest upfront and brings down the operational costs with the pay-as-you-use model for small holding farmers.

About Hello Tractor

Hello Tractor is focused on improving smallholder farmer’s access to timely and affordable tractor services along with other farm inputs. Their technology makes it easy and profitable for tractor owners to a. Monetize tractors as business assets and b. Connect with farmers to schedule tractor services. Hello Tractor’s innovative use of IoT [Internet of Things] simplifies complex data to ensure transparency, profitability, and accountability across our ecosystem of farmers, tractor owners, tractor dealers, original equipment manufacturers, banks, and governments.

|In: HealthCare|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

mfine, an AI powered, on-demand healthcare service, is redefining how millions of Indians access primary healthcare by laying more emphasis on preventive and holistic care. To enable this, mfine launched ‘mfine ONE‘, a unique subscription plan that includes a complementary baseline health checkup and unlimited access to best doctors for the entire family. The mfine app allows users to virtually connect with doctors from leading hospitals under 60 seconds.

More than 70 doctors from 30 hospitals are consulting users, under 12 specialties. The healthcare startup is aiming to acquire 25000 members through the subscription plan in Bengaluru in the next 6 months. mfine ONE is an annual/half-yearly subscription plan that allows unlimited doctor consultations for users and their immediate family members. The program will give users access to several digital tools to help them manage chronic conditions, maintain a healthy lifestyle, and aid in recovery from illnesses. Users with specific medical issues or chronic diseases will find this plan suitable for long-term care as they will have access to all their previous health records and will be able to continuously monitor and track their progress along with access to specialist doctors.

As part of the subscription, consumers get a complete health assessment followed by a consultation with a physician on personal health goals and steps to achieve the same. The assessment is a comprehensive check-up to know all important health parameters of an individual including functioning of heart, kidneys and liver, complete blood count, composition of fat & muscle in the body and vitamin profile. This helps consumers to know how healthy they are and what specific health goals they should pursue.

Spread of chronic and lifestyle diseases is growing at an alarming pace and much of it will end up in tertiary care if not managed and intervened at appropriate time. mfine’s vision is to enable easy access to quality primary and secondary care in India so that expensive tertiary care can be avoided. The subscription program allows users to not only monitor their own health but also of their immediate family members at no additional cost.

Launched in December 2017, more than 30,000 consultations have been done on mfine by some of the top doctors of the city. The startup has raised over $6 million and has 60 employees. The company is planning to achieve over 100,000 consultations by the end of 2018 and will partner with more than 50 top hospitals across 5 cities in the country. The mfine app is currently available in English on Google Playstore and Appstore [mfine app Download Link]

Prasad Kompalli, CEO and Co-founder, mfine, said

At mfine, our aim is to change the way people perceive healthcare. Taking charge of one’s health doesn’t mean visiting the doctor when one falls sick. It should be a priority for everyone to ensure that they know why they fall sick, and what needs to be changed in order to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Our subscription model has been designed in a way that the entire family can avail the benefits of our services.

About mfine

mfine is an app-based, on-demand healthcare service that provides its users access to online consultations and care programmes from the country’s top hospitals. The AI-driven digital health platform partners with leading and trusted hospitals instead of aggregating individual doctors. mfine users can consult doctors from their preferred hospitals via chat or video to get prescriptions and/or routine care. mfine was launched in December 2017 by Ashutosh Lawania and Prasad Kompalli. The founders were later joined by Ajit Narayanan, Arjun Choudhary, and Dr. Jagadish Prasad, an interventional neuroradiologist, and founder of Femiint Health, a hospital in Bengaluru. For more details, please visit mfine.

|In: startups|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

In a recently organized stakeholder’s consultation, members of the Internet and Mobile Association of India [IAMAI] raised concerns about the possible impact of the Data Protection Bill on the Tech startup sector in India.

Image Source – Data Protection

The first and most important concern emanates from the insurmountable difficulty of collecting and processing personal data proposed in the draft Bill. Restrictive clauses around purpose limitation, storage limitation and collection limitation will make it very difficult for startups and potential startups to get into the data business.  Restrictive norms of consent including ‘bearing the burden of proof of consent‘, being responsible for the correctness of the data collected will add to the difficulties of data fiduciaries.

In addition, poorly defined benchmark for ‘significant data fiduciaries‘ leaves the room wide open even for mid-sized data companies the onerous burden of compliance such periodic data audit, data protection impact assessments including permission from the proposed Data Protection Authority for every new technology introduced.

Finally in case of accidental or involuntary non-compliance with any of the provisions of the law invites heavy fines which most of the startups are not in a position to pay and criminal charges that are most undesirable.

IAMAI members point out that collection and processing of first hand data for monetization is the only lifeline for startups. Such data is also critical for analyzing customer preference and response, designing and fine-tuning services, identifying key revenue streams, targeted marketing and promotion.

In the new regime, the absence of avenues to collect primary data from users, startups would be forced to depend on incumbent businesses for ‘anonymized data‘ that does not come within the ambit of this Bill. Incumbents may refuse to share data with potential competitors, or demand premium price for anonymized data products. Going forward, such incumbents can become the gatekeepers to the tech sector. This does not augur well for a competitive space required to promote tech startups.

Some other members of the association who are mid-sized startups with ambitions to expand in overseas market feared that their plans may be scuttled by the provisions of data localization. Other countries where they are expanding may retaliate by demanding reciprocal data localization. Data localization also forces Indian startups to look for more expensive and inefficient local solutions.

On the whole, with ease of doing business being still relatively difficult for startups; creation of an additional and complex regulator in the form of Data Protection Authority with ill defined mandate will make things much more difficult for Indian tech startups.

About IAMAI

The Internet and Mobile Association of India [IAMAI] is a young and vibrant association with ambitions of representing the entire gamut of digital businesses in India. It was established in 2004 by the leading online publishers, but in the last 14 years has come to effectively address the challenges facing the digital and online industry including mobile content and services, online publishing, mobile advertising, online advertising, e-commerce and mobile & digital payments among others.

The association is registered under the Societies Act and is a recognized charity in Maharashtra. With a membership of nearly 300 Indian and overseas companies, and with offices in Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Kolkata, the association is well placed to work towards charting a growth path for the digital industry in India. For more information, please visit IAMAI

|In: AI|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

Microsoft announced grants to seven recipients from India under AI for Earth, its worldwide program aimed at empowering people and organizations to solve global environmental challenges through the power of AI. These grantees will receive access to Microsoft Azure and AI computing resources; in-depth education and technology trainings on these tools and additional support as the projects grow and mature. India now has the third largest concentration of AI for Earth grantees, following the United States and Canada – with the aim of accelerating innovation and building sustainable game changing solutions built on AI technologies and cloud computing.

Image Source – Microsoft

Commenting on the program, Lucas Joppa, Chief Environmental Officer, Microsoft Corporation and Lead for Microsoft AI for Earth, said

In every country around the world, we are facing unprecedented environmental challenges, impacting the ability to access water, grow healthy crops and protect biodiversity. At Microsoft, we’ve found that one thing was accelerating as quickly as the degradation of our planet’s natural resources, and that is technology. Through AI for Earth, we’re making sure that innovative environmental researchers, like the seven here in India, are empowered with Microsoft’s AI in the pursuit of creating a more sustainable future for us all.

The grantees from India, chosen based on their efforts to conserve, protect and rebuild the environment with AI, are

Agriculture

India Institute of Technology – together with the Technical University of Munich,the India Institute of Technology is designing a low-cost tool for monitoring plant health in resource-limited regions. Used directly in the field by farmers, the device will automate the process of disease diagnosis through image analysis on the Azure platform.

International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics [ICRISAT], Hyderabad – ICRISAT is using AI, cognitive services, and cloud computing to enhance pest forecasting and prediction models and farm advisory services to enable sustainable agriculture production in developing parts of the world.

Biodiversity

Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and Environment [ATREE], Bengaluru – ATREE is developing an AI-enabled tool to document and quantitatively assess the abundant habitats and rich biological resources of North-East India.

Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology Delhi – is working on an intelligent tool for identifying and locating monkeys in human habitats, helping researchers implement more effective population control.

Climate Change

Symbiosis Institute of Technology [Smart Meter Data Analytics], Pune – is using both smart meter and socio-economic data to develop an AI-enabled prototype for smart meter data analytics—helping improve energy management for utilities and consumers.

Water

India Institute of Science, Bangalore – is developing a scalable solution using data analytics and machine learning under its Eqwater project to ensure equitable water distribution in India’s large cities.

Symbiosis Institute of Technology, Pune – is developing Smart Environment Information and Management System [SEIMANS] to monitor and predict water, air and soil conditions for a variety of smart city applications, such as utilities and environmental monitoring.

According to Keshav Dhakad, Group Head and Assistant General Counsel – CELA, Microsoft India

At Microsoft, we believe AI for Earth will be a force multiplier for groups and individuals like these who are creating solutions for a more sustainable future for us all. Today’s announcement represents an expansion of Microsoft’s commitment to and investment in democratizing AI and advancing sustainability in the country. We congratulate the recipients and are excited by the potential for advances in AI and sustainability that will benefit India and the world.

AI for Earth is a $50 million, 5-year commitment from Microsoft to put AI at work for the future of the planet. Launched in July 2017, its focus areas are climate change, agriculture, biodiversity and water. In just a year, AI for Earth has grown from 20 grantees to 147 from across more than 40 countries, with $1.1M of Azure credits awarded to date.

To find out more about Microsoft’s AI for Earth initiative and how you can be a part of it, visit Microsoft AI for Earth