AIIA, Techfest IIT Bombay launch national Ayurveda AI challenge
The competition will use IIT Bombay’s open-source AyurParam language model to develop AI applications for Ayurveda, with the national finale scheduled for December 15–18.
The Ministry of Ayush said on October 29 that the AyushTech Innovate: National Open Ayurveda AI Challenge was launched during the Foundation Day celebrations of AIIA’s incubation centre, AIIA-iCAINE, in New Delhi.
NEW DELHI: The All India Institute of Ayurveda (AIIA) and Techfest, IIT Bombay, have launched a national challenge to develop trustworthy and practical artificial intelligence applications for Ayurvedic clinical practice, research and public health awareness.
The Ministry of Ayush said on October 29 that the AyushTech Innovate: National Open Ayurveda AI Challenge was launched during the Foundation Day celebrations of AIIA’s incubation centre, AIIA-iCAINE, in New Delhi.
Organised by Techfest, IIT Bombay, in collaboration with the ministry and AIIA, the challenge will leverage AyurParam, IIT Bombay’s open-source Ayurveda large language model.
Participants will address applications including retrieval of information from classical texts, research, treatment planning and public health awareness. The initiative emphasises transparency, safety and trustworthiness in developing AI solutions.
The national grand finale is scheduled for December 15–18, 2026, at IIT Bombay.
AIIA-iCAINE also signed an agreement with the World Ayurveda Foundation to establish “AI in Ay – Secretariat for Artificial Intelligence in Ayurveda”, a collaborative platform for AI-driven research, innovation and entrepreneurship.
The partnership will support joint research, funding and corporate social responsibility proposals, training programmes, hackathons and startup incubation. It will also draw on the foundation’s national and international networks to promote responsible AI applications.
A second agreement, with Reliance Retail Limited’s Pahadi Local, will support the development of skincare products informed by classical Ayurvedic knowledge. AIIA will provide formulation advisory, while Reliance Retail will undertake product development, testing, manufacturing and marketing.
The institute also launched an Intellectual Property Rights Facility for Ayurveda to help innovators understand intellectual property protection as they move towards product development and commercialisation.
AIIA Director Prof. Vd. P. K. Prajapati said the incubator had supported 52 problem statements and mentored more than 100 startup ideas. Nine startups had received seed support of ₹3 lakh each.
The programme included workshops on branding, pricing and design thinking, covering user needs, problem identification, prototyping and testing. Other activities included a Smart India Hackathon briefing, the release of “Ayupreneur: A Beginner’s Glossary” and grants for SIH 2025 winners.
Established under the Ministry of Ayush in October 2021, AIIA-iCAINE supports Ayurveda-based products, services and enterprises through mentoring, incubation and industry partnerships.
