fifteen teams, eleven startups, and one invitation
Technovation’s founder and CEO, Tara Chklovski, was raised in India. That’s where she fell in love with aerospace engineering, and where she noticed there were no other women learning it beside her. Her response was founding Technovation in 2006, and now, two decades later, Technovation hosted its first two international events in India in the same week.
2026 marked the inaugural year for the AI Ventures Accelerator, and more than 1,000 founders from 60 countries joined. Eleven startups represented the cohort at Demo Day.
Of them, two sisters from India founded Strabi-Cure to make early screening accessible for strabismus, which affects about 2% of the global population, after their brother was diagnosed late.
A founder from Rwanda launched PACIN to make it easier for lenders to assess credit history for small business loan applicants who don’t have a formal credit history.
MedPull, launched by two US-based cofounders, monitors post-surgery recovery through a combination of data from wearables, AI conversation with patients, and clinical records, and is conducting trials with partners this fall.
Many already have a steady stream of users in markets most accelerators never visit.
The accelerator was developed in partnership with Generation Unlimited. Capgemini and Google hosted two days of pitches, workshops, and introductions. The founders toured Capgemini’s offices, and over long meals everyone traded both dreams and data. Somewhere between pitch rehearsals, we even fit in a yoga session.
Each startup left Delhi with insights from experts, $10,000 in equity-free seed funding and a group of peer entrepreneurs ready to troubleshoot and support each other along their startup journey.
While the accelerator founders pitched in Delhi, fifteen finalist teams from Technovation Challenge landed in Bengaluru. These builders, ages 8 to 18, represent the start of the tech entrepreneurship journey with Technovation. They picked a problem in their home community, built and tested a tech or AI solution with people who live with the problem, and pitched it. This year, 33,000 young builders across 130 countries started the season, and 15 teams made it to World Summit.
The week opened with a visit to a local temple and a traditional South Indian meal, then to Curiosity Adda’s community tech installation and a Bollywood dance lesson. Then the work started. It was an honor to have a special group of Oracle volunteers welcome our teams with words of encouragement and surprise handmade gifts for each participant.
On day two, TE Connectivity lent the teams its stage and its executives for a full timed run-through, with notes from people who evaluate products for a living. The same day, Progress Software hosted our Senior teams for a tour and panel.
Final pitches took place at the Boeing India Engineering & Technology Center, where they were welcomed like Olympians. Judges from AMD, ServiceNow, TEKsystems, Dolby Laboratories, and Inditex filled the room alongside local schoolchildren, who came to watch builders their own age. In her keynote speech, Jaya Jagadish, Senior Vice President of Design Engineering at AMD, encouraged our builders to embrace their curiosity.
Interpreters worked alongside non-English-speaking teams all day. Alexander Uchechukwu Okoroafor, a sign language interpreter from Nigeria, taught the audience a few signs between pitches, and the room picked them up fast. He has heard every reason this work shouldn’t happen.
“People said, ‘What are you doing teaching STEM to non-science students? That’s crazy, you’re wasting your time.’ But we saw a vision they did not see.”
Alexander Uchechukwu Okoroafor, sign language interpreter, Nigeria
Wistree works where grandparents already are: WhatsApp. The app lets grandparents share stories and recipes with their families, translated across 22 Indian languages.
Emergen is a QR code that unlocks gated health information during an emergency. Bystanders and first responders get what they need to help. Nobody else gets anything.
Team Asian Sharks trained sensors to detect mine instability and report it before miners get trapped.
World Summit and Demo Day mark milestones along the same entrepreneurial path: the completion of your first build as a young innovator, and securing seed funding for a startup that has the potential to transform people’s lives. Supporting every stage of an entrepreneur’s journey starts early and requires adaptation as they grow and build.
From 8-year-olds developing the mindset that they can build solutions to real problems, to adult entrepreneurs early in their startup journeys looking for seed funding and connection to the world’s top experts and investors, we are developing the lifelong pathway of support and guidance.
Women Techmakers, who joined Technovation in 2025, keep our builders connected as they enter the workforce. It welcomed 500+ new ambassadors this year, many of whom mentor our builders through both the Technovation Challenge and our accelerator.
We’re also learning that the strength of our network attracts powerful partnerships. We do this work in tandem with top companies around the world leading innovation, workforce development, and social good. Be a part of this work through volunteer opportunities that upskill and train for the future of work.
The 2027 season is already shaping up to be our biggest yet. Thousands of new builders will start with a problem they care about, and the next accelerator cohort will turn the strongest products into companies. It's time to build something the world needs. Mentor with us or fund the 2027 founders.
Hosts: Boeing India Engineering & Technology Center, Capgemini, Google, TE Connectivity, Progress Software
AI Ventures Accelerator funding partner: Generation Unlimited
Judging and Speakers: AMD, ServiceNow, TEKsystems, Dolby Laboratories, Inditex
On the ground: Kaira Events (local production), Flickerscape (video), Curiosity Adda (community tech installation), Oracle Volunteers
And: every finalist, founder, Mentor, Chapter Ambassador, interpreter, and family member who made the trip
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