Google invests $8 million for health, agriculture and education – Obnews
Google.org, the philanthropic arm of Google, announced $8 million funding on December 16, 2025 to foster four government-backed AI Centers of Excellence focused on health, agriculture, education and sustainable cities – in line with India’s “Make AI in India and Make AI Work for India” vision.
These centers include TANUH at IISc Bangalore for scalable AI in the treatment of non-communicable diseases; Airawat Research Foundation at IIT Kanpur to transform urban governance; AI Center of Excellence for Education at IIT Madras to improve learning outcomes; and ANNAM.AI at IIT Ropar for data-driven agriculture solutions and farmer welfare.
Additionally, Google pledged an initial contribution of $2 million for a new Indic Language Technologies Research Hub at IIT Bombay, honoring the late Professor Pushpak Bhattacharya, a pioneer in Indic language technologies and former visitor to Google DeepMind. The hub aims to advance AI that embraces India’s linguistic diversity.
At the “Lab to Impact” dialogue associated with the India AI Impact Summit 2026, Google pledged $400,000 to develop an India-specific health foundation model using its healthcare-specific AI, MedGemma. Initially, Ajanma Lens will partner with experts from AIIMS on dermatology and OPD triaging models, which will contribute to the digital public infrastructure.
Google is also collaborating with the National Health Authority to use AI to transform millions of unstructured medical records into a machine-readable FHIR standard, which will improve accessibility and policy insights.
Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan emphasized these centers as a national research mission for fundamental AI, responsible innovation and public-good solutions towards a developed India 2047. Dr. Manish Gupta of Google DeepMind highlights India’s full-stack AI approach – from research to global impact. These initiatives underline the industry-government partnership to establish India as an AI leader.
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