AWS & Tamil Nadu Hub Launch AI Startup Program

New Delhi, Jul 15 (PTI) Amazon Web Services on Monday announced its collaboration with Tamil Nadu Technology (iTNT) Hub to launch a generative artificial intelligence startup hub programme for fostering innovation in the AI and deep-tech space.

The initiative was introduced during the 'Generative AI Startup-Venture Capital' event by Amazon Web Services (AWS) and iTNT Hub in Chennai.

The iTNT Hub is a public-private ecosystem of startups, academia and industry, established and funded by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) and the Tamil Nadu government.

The hub is located in Anna University, Chennai.

"The programme will enable startups to collaborate with the industry to build public sector-focused solutions using generative AI and will solicit and shortlist startups building solutions for government, healthcare, education and non-profit sectors operating in the AI, generative AI, and deep-tech space," according to a statement.

This programme will provide mentorship to founders emerging from incubation programmes of more than 570 engineering colleges affiliated with Anna University, the statement said.

Startups in incubation will have the chance to tap into research opportunities for industry collaboration, sector-specific guidance and funding avenues.

"By collaborating with iTNT Hub, we aim to nurture a startup community that has core capabilities and strengths in generative AI, accelerate innovation using generative AI, and help public sector organisations implement solutions," Sunil PP, Lead - Channels and Alliances, Public Sector at AWS India, said.

Each eligible startup will receive up to USD 10,000 in AWS credits to experiment and build with more than 240 fully-featured services on AWS, including innovative generative AI services and solutions such as Amazon Bedrock, Amazon Q, Amazon SageMaker, AWS Trainium and AWS Inferentia, among others, the statement said.

The "iTNT Hub is dedicated to harnessing Tamil Nadu's vast tech capability and fostering research, development and innovation across the state. This exciting collaboration with AWS gives startup founders access to mentorship, resources, and a community for the development of citizen-driven generative AI solutions," Vanitha Venugopal, CEO of iTNT Hub, said.