Microsoft Research (MSR) India is creating a new program to work with academia, government and entrepreneurs to help incubate technologies for societal impact, with special emphasis on Cloud and AI platforms<\/p>\n
Important dates:<\/strong> Context<\/strong> Opens in a new tab<\/span><\/p>\n Call For Collaborative Project Proposals:<\/strong> Who can participate?<\/strong> Inspired by India<\/strong> Collaborative Project Proposal Submission Guidelines:<\/strong><\/p>\n Every collaborative project proposal should contain the following: Funding <\/strong><\/p>\n MSR will offer funding support of up to INR 35 Lakhs \/ USD 50K for each of the selected projects. Funding will be determined individually for each project basis the scope of the project and associated resource requirements.<\/p>\n Additional Support \/Resources from MSR<\/strong><\/p>\n MSR has expertise and active research agenda in the above themes and will act as advisors\/collaborators for the selected projects. Intellectual Property<\/strong> Important dates:<\/strong> <\/p>\n Opens in a new tab<\/span><\/p>\n Details on the suggested themes:<\/strong><\/p>\n 1) AI and NLP Technologies for Low Resource Languages<\/strong> 2)\u00a0Ludic Design for Accessibility<\/strong> 3) Inclusive employment, crowdsourcing, gig work<\/strong><\/p>\n There is a significant fraction of the population that have low income or high debt. We believe that AI and cloud technologies have the potential to provide new employment and income opportunities to this population. We also believe that tools providing financial education, income and debt management and training has the potential to allow this underserved population to access basic financial services, such as bank loans. Related projects at MSR include Karya (opens in new tab)<\/span><\/a> (Dignified Digital Work) and our work in Digital Money, Financial Capability and Financial Inclusion (opens in new tab)<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span>4) Data science for societal challenges<\/strong> 5) Technologies for Health and Well-being<\/strong> 6) Public Awareness and Combating Misinformation<\/strong> 7) Other systems and tools for societal impact<\/strong> Steps to make your submission:-<\/p>\n In case you face any issues, or have any questions, please write to indiamrc@microsoft.com<\/p>\n Deadline for submitting project proposals (for full consideration): September 21st, 2018<\/strong> <\/p>\n FAQs<\/span><\/b> for Microsoft Research (MSR) India: Call for Collaborative Projects on Cloud and AI Technologies for Societal Impact<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Is this purely a funding program? How is it different from other grants\/ accelerator programs?<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n No, in fact funding is the least important aspect of this program. With this program, the goal is to be able to have greater positive societal impact by leveraging expertise and ongoing work at MSRI, in combination with ideas external community has. We strongly believe that we can make a lot happen if we join forces, and complement each other\u2019s efforts in areas of mutual interest.<\/p>\n For ideas to scale over time, funding is required so allocation of funds\/ resourcing will be driven by milestones the proposal has.<\/li>\n <\/p>\n Problem Statement:<\/b> A precise problem statement on using cloud\/AI technologies to solve significant societal challenges, preferably aligned to one or more of the above themes. Opens in a new tab<\/span><\/p>\n Thank you for your submissions. We received a very large number of very high quality proposals for this call. After careful consideration and review, here’s the list of projects we have selected. As mentioned on the\u00a0website, this is a rolling process, and we may add\u00a0 more projects to this list\u00a0from the current pool of proposals as well as new ones when the submission window reopens. Please watch out this space for more details.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
\n\u2022 Deadline for submitting project proposals (for full consideration): September 21st, 2018<\/strong>
\n\u2022 Notification of selected projects:\u00a05th November\u00a02018 (due to very high volumes of proposals received, the review committee needs more time to finalize projects)<\/strong>
\n\u2022 Kick-off with selected projects: 19th\u00a0\u00a0November 2018<\/strong>Opens in a new tab<\/span><\/p>\n
\nIndia is going through a disruptive phase in digitization and technology. The focus of the government, in conjunction with the tremendous energy brought upon by the industry, academia, social entrepreneurs and impact investors has created an environment with the potential to address societal challenges with large scale deployments of technology-led innovations.
\nMicrosoft Research (MSR) India is a thought leader in developing and deploying technologies for socioeconomic development. We have a strong legacy of work in the understanding of challenges faced by under-served communities. We have also fostered innovative interventions with demonstrable impact across domains such as healthcare, agriculture and education. Our work on TB medication adherence (99 DOTS) (opens in new tab)<\/span><\/a> has led to broad deployment not only in India, but also in Myanmar and Africa. Digital Green (opens in new tab)<\/span><\/a>, an NGO working on agricultural extension using videos, came out of research from our lab. IVR junction (opens in new tab)<\/span><\/a>, a platform for grassroots citizen journalism, is widely used in developing countries across the world.
\nSince our inception in 2005, we have been doing this work in collaboration with academia, government and entrepreneurs. Given the current climate, we see a huge opportunity in the potential of technology for societal impact and take our collaborative engagements to the next level. To that end, MSR India is creating a new program to work with academia, government and entrepreneurs to help incubate technologies for societal impact, with special emphasis on Cloud and AI platforms.<\/p>\n
\nWe encourage project proposals which use technology (specifically, cloud and AI technologies) to have significant societal impact. Though we are open to considering any idea in the intersection of technology and societal impact, we have a specific interest in the following themes, since our researchers are actively working in these themes, and projects on these themes are likely to find collaborative interest with MSR:
\n\u2022 AI and Natural Language Processing (NLP) Technologies for Low Resource Languages
\n\u2022 Ludic Design for Accessibility
\n\u2022 Inclusive employment, crowdsourcing and gig work
\n\u2022 Data science for societal challenges
\n\u2022 Technologies for Health and well-being
\n\u2022 Public Awareness and Combating Misinformation
\n\u2022 Other systems and tools for societal impact
\nMore details on each of these themes can be found in the themes tab.<\/p>\n
\nWe invite project proposals from faculty at universities, social enterprises\/start-ups and other entities who have research interests aligned to the above themes. Each project proposal should have one principal leader and can have other co-leaders. We welcome interdisciplinary approaches with collaborations involving technologists, social scientists and entrepreneurs.<\/p>\n
\nWe invite project proposals that specifically focus on building and deploying systems at societal scale. As examples, 99Dots currently has over 200,000 patients registered and operates across several states in India, and in other parts of the world (eg. Myanmar). Digital Green operates in tens of thousands of villages across the word. We encourage projects with such aspirations. While we envisage solutions to be inspired, seeded and experimented in India, we expect that the results will be applicable\/deployable in other countries across the world, with a scale of impact that can be truly global.<\/p>\n
\n1.<\/strong> A precise problem statement on using cloud\/AI technologies to solve significant societal challenges, preferably aligned to one or more of the above themes.
\n2.<\/strong> What are current and known approaches to address\/solve this problem? What is being attempted? What are the limitations of current approaches, if any?
\n3.<\/strong> Proposed research effort \/ technology approach to address the problem. Please specify clearly what is unique in your thinking and approach, and any unique insights you have as to why you believe your approach will work.
\n4.<\/strong> Why do you want to collaborate with MSR? Please mention specific areas where MSR can contribute and add value, or interest in working with ongoing projects from MSR in this area. See the Technologies for Emerging Markets<\/a> page or descriptions below for description of ongoing work at MSR)
\n5.<\/strong> Picture of success for the project, and vision for scale deployment, with timelines for the project.
\nSubmitted project proposals should be no more than 2500 words (excluding references and supplementary material). Full consideration will be given to project proposals received by the end of business day on\u00a021st September,\u00a02018. Submissions received after this due date will be considered on a rolling basis depending on room we have in the program.
\nWe also encourage submission of preliminary abstracts for feedback. For preliminary abstracts received before 30th August 2018, we will provide feedback, which we hope will be useful in revising and refining the project proposal. Ambitious projects with actionable and concrete plans will be given priority in the final selection.
\nAn evaluation committee comprising members from MSR, academics, and entrepreneurs will select project proposals from the submissions received within the above deadline.<\/p>\n
\nImportant: We envisage the selected projects to engage with MSR in a highly collaborative manner on the chosen problems. Researchers and engineers from MSR will actively be involved in the research as well as the development aspects of each selected project. The leader and team members (up to a maximum of 3 members) of the selected projects should spend 3 to 4 weeks at MSR India premises as part of this program over the next 12 months. Leaders are welcome to nominate students \/ team members as part of their project proposal, for the time to be spent at Microsoft Research India, as mentioned above.
\nMSR will cover for travel, accommodation and meal costs for the leaders and students\/team members for the duration of their stay at the MSR premises. We will also provide resources like cloud\/hosting , etc . This will be determined on a case by case basis.
\nOur goal is to collaborate with the selected projects and help the teams develop and demonstrate their idea using scale deployments, during the next 12 months and \u201cgraduate\u201d the project to the next level. In some cases, members from MSR India will do field visits to assess and assist with deployments on a case-by-case basis.<\/p>\n
\nAll pre-existing IP (created prior to the start of the collaboration) will remain with its original owner (Microsoft or the participant). Licenses to pre-existing IP will be provided for the purpose of carrying out the collaboration; any licenses to pre-existing IP necessary for commercialization will be negotiated as needed. Any resulting IP that is created by the collaboration will either be owned by the party that created it (with a license to use and\/or distribute granted to the other party), or it will be jointly owned with the goal of making it freely available to others.
\nProject proposals will only be shared with the selection committee and, if a project proposal is not selected the proposal will be returned\/destroyed after the selection process is completed.<\/p>\n
\n\u2022 Deadline for submitting project proposals (for full consideration): September 21st, 2018<\/strong>
\n\u2022Notification of selected projects:\u00a05th November\u00a0 2018 (due to very high volumes of proposals received, the review committee needs more time to finalize projects)<\/strong>
\n\u2022 Kick-off with selected projects: 19th\u00a0\u00a0November 2018<\/strong>
\n(Subsequent rounds of selections may be done on a rolling basis)<\/p>\n
\n\u201cSimply embedding endangered languages into the keyboards of smartphones will not save them. But, keeping these languages enmeshed in the fabric of daily life\u2014which, particularly for the newer, younger speakers who are key to these languages\u2019 survival, means being a viable way to communicate through technology\u2014is the only way they will have even a slim hope of surviving.\u201d, William Brenan, The New Yorker
\nTechnology pervades all aspects of society and continues to change the way people access and share information, learn and educate, as well as provide and access services. Language is the main channel through which such transformational technology can be integrated into the socio-economic processes of a community.
\nHowever, this benefit is still limited to a subset of the world\u2019s language communities and large populations worldwide are bereft of access to technology in their own languages. Most languages in the world lack the linguistic resources to build large data-driven (e.g., Deep Neural Net) models. To be able to truly support speech and language systems that can enable everyone on the planet, methodologies and techniques to build systems in resource constrained settings are essential.
\nWith this goal in view, we invite project proposals in the areas of Natural Language Processing, Conversations and Speech that address the needs and aspirations of language-users currently unable to access technology.
\nWe invite project proposals that seek to impact underserved communities through enabling language technology by creating economic opportunities, building technological skills, enhancing education and preserving local language and cultures for future generations.
\nProject proposals are invited in, but not limited to (1) Data: New\/Innovative methodologies for data design and collection, e.g., gamification of data collection, crowdsourcing, etc, (2) Language Technology Systems: Designing new techniques and framework\/architecture for technology for low resource languages, building Speech and NLP systems for low resource languages, and (3) Applications: At scale deployments of language technology applications that impact the community.
\nFor more context, please see our Low Resource Speech Challenge (opens in new tab)<\/span><\/a> at Interspeech 2018.<\/p>\n
\n“Man only plays when he is in the fullest sense of the word a human being, and he is only fully a human being when he plays\u201d –Friedrich Schiller
\nWe call our approach to the creation of technology solutions for accessibility as ludic design for accessibility. Ludic design holds that “non-productive” activities and desires—the need to play, to have fun, to be playful and the need for entertainment in one’s life— are central to the solution.
\nWe are creating a Room of Empowerment at MSR India that will be a collaborative test bed focused on ludic design for accessibility. This Room will bring together persons with disabilities, researchers from industry and academia, practitioners, and NGOs together. We are inclusive in our definition of impairments to cover physical, sensory, neuro-muscular, and cognitive impairments across the spectrum.
\nWe are seeking project proposals on creating solutions that enable people with disabilities to play and enjoy themselves with technology. Example ongoing projects in this area at MSR include video games for the vision impaired and gaze-controlled games and play for people with SSMI. Instead of narrowly focusing on specific tasks such as \u201cenabling people with impairment X to do task Y”, we encourage projects that address a wide range of impairments and a wide range of tasks. The accepted project teams will be physically situated in the proposed Room of Empowerment. As mentioned, the vision for this Room is to harness technology for the sole purpose of empowering people with physical, neuro-muscular or cognitive impairments to have a roaring fun time playing.
\nRelated projects at MSR include Avare (opens in new tab)<\/span><\/a> (Augmented Virtual And Real Environments) and CodeTalk (opens in new tab)<\/span><\/a> (Programming Tools for Visually Impaired Developers)<\/p>\n
\nOur goal is to improve the financial inclusion of low-income communities. Towards this end, we are inviting project proposals to investigate how technology can be used to 1) provide alternate sources of income (e.g., crowd-sourcing work), 2) educate low-income communities to better manage their finances,\u00a0 3) provide skills that potentially allow them to break out of the cycle of poverty and 4) to improve gig work, for example, by promoting fair work conditions or building fair gig work platforms, or helping workers maximize their independence and flexibility, operate more competitively in the market, develop careers and so on.<\/p>\n
\nMachine learning systems have been a success online. They help us find relevant information, discover interesting content and help us in our work and daily lives. As general tools for processing data, however, machine learning and data science can have broad applicability. What if we turned these techniques towards important societal challenges that we face today?
\nIn many such problems, data is increasingly available. However, there are unique challenges on establishing data provenance, removing historical biases, and distinguishing correlations from causal factors. We invite project proposals for creative use of machine learning and data science to tackle societal problems, including, but not limited to applications in education, governance, financial inclusion and sustainability. We especially encourage inter-disciplinary projects with collaborations between technologists and domain experts.Example of a related project at MSR: Early Warning systems for preventing school dropouts<\/p>\n
\nIn many parts of the world, people struggle with limited access to healthcare. According to a report by The World Health Organization, at least half of the world’s population is unable to receive essential health services. Doctors and healthcare providers face their own challenges as they deal with an ever-increasing number of patients with chronic ailments, new communicable diseases and mental health issues.
\nHelp us reimagine the future of health and well-being through innovative uses of technology. We invite project proposals for all facets of healthcare, including community-based and institutional healthcare, and at all stages including diagnosis, treatment and prognosis. We specifically encourage projects which combine technological ideas and social engineering, and look at these issues from multiple perspectives to solve these problems.
\nRelevant themes include, but are not limited to medical decision-making, adherence and monitoring outcomes, mental health and public health awareness
\nExample of a related project at MSR: Tracking adherence to tuberculosis medication through 99DOTS (opens in new tab)<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n
\n“Right information at the right time”
\nAccess to information is a powerful force for alleviating societal inequality. Today, however, we face big challenges in realizing this goal: on the one hand, public agencies face difficulties in spreading vital information on health, education and livelihood; on the other, misinformation or “fake” news is travelling faster than before and leading to grave outcomes. How do we channel modern tools of communication to promote awareness on critical issues and reduce misinformation?
\nWe invite project proposals that intersect the themes of information access, public awareness, and misinformation for societally-critical domains such as health, education, livelihood, news and policy. Topics include, but are not limited to:
\n\u2022 Enhancing the reach of public awareness programs
\n\u2022 Reimagining public awareness through ICT and social media technologies
\n\u2022 Combating misinformation in social media and identifying veracity of information
\n\u2022 Methods for establishing trust in provided information
\nExample of a related project at MSR: Learn2Earn, which is a social incentives-driven mass awareness system<\/p>\n
\nUnder this category we invite project proposals that look at the design and development of systems, infrastructure and tools (using cloud and AI technologies) for societal impact, yet not explicitly covered by the previous themes. The projects would ideally be domain-neutral, or begin with a specific focus, but have components that would be generalizable across domains. Example areas include overcoming low-literacy, rural networking, building blockchain, improving sustainability, etc.
\nExample of related projects at MSR include VideoKheti (opens in new tab)<\/span><\/a> (making video content accessible to low-literate farmers) and Vishrambh (opens in new tab)<\/span><\/a> (Trusted Philanthropy with end-to-end transparency).Opens in a new tab<\/span><\/p>\n\n
\n\u2022 Notification of selected projects:\u00a05th November 2018<\/strong>
\n\u2022 Kick-off with selected projects: 19th November 2018<\/strong>Opens in a new tab<\/span><\/p>\n\n
\n
\n2.<\/strong> Previous Known Work:<\/b> What are current and known approaches to address\/solve this problem? What is being attempted? What are the limitations of current approaches, if any?
\n3.<\/strong> Proposed Solution: <\/b>Proposed research effort \/ technology approach to address the problem. Please specify clearly what is unique in your thinking and approach, and any unique insights you have as to why you believe your approach will work.
\n4.<\/strong> Collaboration with MSR:<\/b> Why do you want to collaborate with MSR? Please mention specific areas where MSR can contribute and add value, or interest in working with ongoing projects from MSR in this area. See the Technologies for Emerging Markets<\/span><\/a> page or descriptions below for description of ongoing work at MSR)
\n5.<\/strong> Project Milestones:<\/b> Picture of success for the project, and vision for scale deployment, with timelines for the project.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n