Applications open for Microsoft’s AI for Earth Grant ($10,000 to $100,000)

As our digital world continues in its upward trajectory, new technologies such as AI offer huge potential in the way of doing things.

This is especially significant because we live in a period where climate change is a gloomy reality.

With AI, humans can better understand, monitor, and predict environmental risks, providing direct societal benefit as well as potential commercial opportunities.

It is for this reason and more that Microsoft is inviting applications for its AI for Earth grant to support projects that use AI to change the way people and organizations monitor, model, and manage Earth’s natural systems.

Environmental startups, academic institutions, nonprofit organizations, government entities anywhere in the world are encouraged to submit their AI-driven projects.

Scope

Projects should cover any of the focus areas below:

Climate: The changing climate threatens human health, infrastructure, and natural systems. AI can give people more accurate climate predictions to help reduce the potential impacts.

Agriculture: By 2050, farmers must produce more food, on less arable land, and with less environmental impact to feed the world’s increasing population. AI can help people monitor the health of farms in real-time.

Biodiversity: Species are going extinct at an alarming rate. AI can help accelerate the discovery, monitoring, and protection of biodiversity across their planet.

Water: In the next two decades, demand for freshwater is predicted to dramatically outpace supply. AI can help people model Earth’s water supply to help them conserve and protect freshwater.

Funding

Azure compute credit grants will provide winners with Azure credits worth $5,000, $10,000, or $15,000, depending on their project scope, to start using Azure AI tools and cloud computing with their existing labeled dataset.

By being a member of the AI for Earth grantee community, winners will receive also have access to additional resources – technical advice and support, online Azure training materials, and invitations to the AI for Earth Summit for networking and education opportunities.

Eligibility criteria

Interested applicants can be associated with an academic institution, nonprofit organization, government entity, environmental startup, or innovative project within a company.

For the Azure compute grants, it is recommended that the main applicant has a demonstrated background in environmental science and/or technology;

A least one member of the team must have strong enough technical skills to complete the project successfully.

Applicants should be close to or done with their data collection and ready to start with computation and model building.

Apply here if you’re interested.

Deadline

Entries for the AI for Earth grant close on Monday, October 4, 2021.