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Tag: #GatesFoundation

  • Piramal Foundation, Gates Foundation launch Sangam Collaborative to fight poverty in five states

    Piramal Foundation, Gates Foundation launch Sangam Collaborative to fight poverty in five states

    A group of philanthropic organisations led by the Piramal Foundation and the Gates Foundation on Wednesday launched the Sangam Collaborative, an initiative aimed at improving health, education and nutrition outcomes across five states where an estimated 70 million people live in multidimensional poverty.

    The Sangam Collaborative brings together the Piramal Foundation, Gates Foundation, A.T.E. Chandra Foundation, Dhanam Foundation, Surgo Foundation and the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation, and will work with government agencies to strengthen public service delivery in Jharkhand, Assam, Chhattisgarh, Odisha and Bihar.

    The initiative was unveiled at the AVPN Global Conference 2026 in New Delhi, a joint statement said.

    The Collaborative said it would focus on improving institutional capacity, leadership, talent, processes and data systems in health and education delivery, working alongside local and international technical experts.

    It also said the model draws on Bihar’s experience, where a long-running partnership between the state government, the Gates Foundation, the Piramal Foundation and other partners has helped strengthen public health institutions and data systems.

    “Lasting change comes when we strengthen the public systems that touch people’s everyday lives,” Piramal said, adding that the Sangam Collaborative aimed to contribute to “a stronger, more inclusive and more prosperous Viksit Bharat.”

    Suzman said India had made remarkable progress in reducing multidimensional poverty over the past decade, citing government-led programmes and the application of technology at scale. He said the Gates Foundation remained committed to its partnership with India through initiatives such as the new Collaborative.

    Chandra said poverty at the scale seen in the target states could not be addressed through isolated acts of philanthropy, and called for combining government scale, philanthropic risk capital and the last-mile reach of civil society groups.

    Ram Shriram, President of the Dhanam Foundation, said the initiative reflected the need for collective action and long-term commitment to tackle multidimensional poverty.

    Kate Hampton, CEO of the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation, said investment in stronger systems and leadership could accelerate pathways out of poverty at scale and offer lessons for communities beyond India.

    The organisations did not disclose the size of funding commitments to the Sangam Collaborative.

  • Gates, Wadhwani sign MoU for India Innovation Network

    Gates, Wadhwani sign MoU for India Innovation Network

    Wadhwani Foundation and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation have signed a landmark Memorandum of Understanding to accelerate India’s push from laboratory research to commercial deployment, backing a national-scale programme called the National Innovation Network (NIN).

    The partnership targets translational research in health, nutrition, biotechnology, genomics and medical technology — sectors the Indian government has identified as national development priorities.

    Under the agreement, the Gates Foundation will fund five NIN Centres of Excellence over five years, with two centres receiving support in the current year. The centres will help researchers move innovations past the laboratory stage toward real-world applications, covering prototyping, validation, pilot deployments, intellectual property management and venture creation.

    The India Innovation Network builds on the Wadhwani Innovation Network (WIN), launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on April 29, 2025. Since its debut, WIN has backed more than 50 high-potential projects spanning healthtech, medtech, biotechnology and quantum technologies, establishing research hubs at IIT Bombay, IIT Delhi, IIT Kanpur, IIT Hyderabad, IIT(ISM) Dhanbad, the Indian Institute of Science and C-CAMP.

    Two flagship “Super Hubs” are under development: the Wadhwani School of AI & Intelligent Systems at IIT Kanpur and the Wadhwani Health & Bio Hub at IIT Bombay.

    “WIN has demonstrated that India’s innovation potential can be unlocked when researchers, institutions, industry and capital come together with a shared mission,” said Ajay Kela, Chief Executive and Board Member of Wadhwani Foundation. “Through NIN, we now have the opportunity to democratize innovation across India and help position the country as a global leader.”

    Archna Vyas, Director of the Gates Foundation’s India Country Office, said the most consequential health and nutrition breakthroughs of the next decade would likely originate in Indian institutions. “Our collaboration with Wadhwani Foundation will help support the opportunity for these innovations by investing in translational pathways,” she said.

    NIN aims to establish more than 250 Centres of Excellence across India within three to five years, drawing participation from government agencies, corporate partners, philanthropies and academic institutions under a shared governance framework managed by the Wadhwani Foundation.

    The network’s longer-term targets include translating thousands of innovations annually from research settings to market-ready products, with projected impact across millions of jobs and livelihoods.