The Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIMA) is planning to launch a dedicated artificial intelligence (AI) fund later this year to help student innovators turn promising ideas into successful businesses and potential unicorns.The initiative will be launched through IIMA Ventures, the institute’s incubation arm, and aims to support not only IIMA students but also talented innovators from other Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and IIMs.
Chandrika Tandon, philanthropist and business leader, wants the Krishnamurthy Tandon School of Artificial Intelligence at IIMA to go beyond traditional classroom learning and help develop future entrepreneurs capable of building major technology companies.Prof Ankur Sinha, chairperson of the Krishnamurthy Tandon School of AI, confirmed that discussions are underway to establish the fund.“We are already in discussions about setting up an AI fund through which we will be able to support not just students from IIMA but potentially students from other IITs and IIMs who come up with excellent ideas. We are aiming to launch AI Funds sometime later this year,” Sinha said.Through the initiative, students enrolled in the two-year programme will receive time and resources to test their AI models and develop their ideas.
Once their business plans are ready, they will be able to establish companies and take their innovations to the market.Tandon Calls for an AI Startup IncubatorTandon shared her vision during a virtual address on Wednesday at an event announcing admissions for the second batch of IIMA’s two-year blended MBA programme in Business Analytics and Artificial Intelligence.
She said the school should serve not only as an academic institution but also as an experimental laboratory and a platform for commercial innovation.“I think the second vision for what this school could be is that it could be an incubator,” she said.Tandon noted that periods of major global uncertainty and disruption often create opportunities for wealth creation and entrepreneurship. She described the rapid development of AI as a major opportunity for students to build successful businesses.
With AI regulations and technologies continuing to evolve, she also encouraged students to explore different disciplines rather than restrict themselves to traditional academic boundaries.According to Tandon, significant breakthroughs are more likely to emerge when knowledge from different fields comes together, creating opportunities for new ideas, innovative products and future businesses.