Centres of Excellence (CoEs)
Building India’s AI-powered Climate Workforce.
1M1B Foundation (One Million for One Billion), in collaboration with Microsoft and MeitY Startup Hub, is building a national network of Green Skills & Applied AI for Climate Action Centres of Excellence (CoEs) across India. marking a significant step in building a future-ready, climate-skilled and AI-enabled youth workforce for the country.
Under this partnership, five Centres of Excellence are being established across key regions in India - Bengaluru, Noida, Lucknow, Shillong, and Hyderabad—creating applied innovation hubs where students and young innovators can develop sustainability and climate-tech solutions using artificial intelligence, data analytics and emerging technologies to address real-world challenges.
Our Vision
The Green Skills & Applied AI for Climate Action program aims to:
youth to be engaged on AI + green skills
get access to opportunities
AI-powered climate use cases for India by 2030
Why This Matters
India's transition to a green economy presents a massive opportunity, but also a critical challenge—a widening green skills gap. Growth in green hiring is significantly outpacing the availability of skilled talent, making it essential to build large-scale, AI-enabled skilling pathways.
The CoEs are designed to equip youth not just with technical capabilities, but to enable them to apply AI to solve real-world climate challenges, driving both sustainability and economic growth.
What the CoEs Do
The Centres of Excellence will function as state-level hubs for climate innovation and talent development, combining hybrid learning, applied AI training, and innovation cohorts. Students work on real-world datasets and problem statements across sectors such as renewable energy, water systems, waste management, sustainable infrastructure and circular economy.
Each CoE serves as a hands-on learning and innovation hub, enabling:
Applied AI and digital innovation for climate solutions
Live projects using government and municipal datasets
Internships, hackathons, and innovation challenges
Development of deployable, real-world solutions
Pathways to jobs, internships, entrepreneurship, and startup ecosystems
National Problem Solvers Registry
A key feature of the program is the National Problem Solvers Registry, bringing together high-performing youth innovators emerging from the program.
This registry will:- Provide MeitY and ecosystem partners access to emerging climate talent
- Enable solution-driven engagement on state and national problem statements
- Create a national pool of AI-enabled climate innovators
- Strengthen India's innovation pipeline aligned with sustainability goals
Innovation to Startup Pathways
The CoEs act as feeders into India's startup ecosystem.
Through collaboration with MeitY Startup Hub:
Top 100 high-potential innovations receive mentorship and incubation exposure
Access to startup internships and ecosystem platforms is enabled
Pathways to grants and scale-up opportunities are created
Solutions are aligned with Startup India and Technology Business Incubators
A Scalable National Model
The Green Skills & Applied AI for Climate Action CoEs represent a scalable national model where skilling, innovation, and employability converge.
By embedding youth into real-world climate problem-solving, the program is building:
A pipeline of AI-enabled climate talent
Deployable solutions for India's sustainability challenges
Strong foundation for India's green economy and Net Zero ambitions
