Samsung R&D Institute India-Bangalore (SRI-B) concluded the second edition of Samsung ennovateX 2026, bringing together technology leaders, researchers, academia and start-ups to discuss developments in artificial intelligence (AI).

Centred on the theme “AI for Living,” the conference examined how AI is changing the way people interact with technology and enabling more personalized and integrated experiences. The discussions reflected Samsung’s focus on developing AI technologies for everyday use.

Building on its inaugural edition, Samsung ennovateX 2026 brought together more than 300 technology and business leaders, researchers and innovators for keynote sessions, panel discussions, technology tutorials, the AX Start-up Pitch and the AX Hackathon.

“AI is about creating meaningful experiences that become a natural part of everyday life. We are building AI that is deeply personal, context-aware and responsibly designed to make technology more intuitive, accessible and impactful for everyone. Samsung ennovateX reflects our belief that breakthrough innovation happens when industry, academia, researchers and entrepreneurs come together to solve real-world challenges,” said Mohan Rao, Corporate Vice President and Managing Director, Samsung R&D Institute India-Bangalore, while opening the conference.

The conference featured speakers from across the technology ecosystem, including Harsh Dhand, Director, AI Partnerships, Google Asia Pacific; Dr. Kumar Sivarajan, CTO, Tejas Networks; Prof. Navkanta Bhat, Dean, Division of Interdisciplinary Sciences, IISc Bengaluru, and technology leaders from SRI-B.

Sessions covered proactive AI agents and AI operating systems, multimodal and physical AI, 6G and AI-RAN infrastructure, the hardware-software stack for the edge, and collaboration between academia, industry and start-ups.

A key session was the Grand Panel Discussion, “AI 2030: Possibilities and Challenges,” which brought together representatives from industry, academia and the investment ecosystem. Moderated by Manu Prasad, Senior Director, Head – Tech Strategy & Consumer Experience, SRI-B, the panel featured Vishal Katariya (Ankur Capital), Arjun Rao (Speciale Invest), Shubham Sandeep (pi Ventures), Prof. Debabrata Das (IIIT Bangalore) and Anant Lambade (Microsoft).

The discussion covered the opportunities and challenges that will shape the next decade of AI, including responsible AI development, commercialization, research collaboration, talent and the role of AI across industries.

Showcasing AI innovation from India

The AX Start-up Pitch featured more than 50 AI start-ups presenting solutions across emerging technology domains.

– Winner: Camb.AI

– Runner-up: H2Loop

The AX Hackathon brought together developers and students to build AI-powered solutions focused on practical applications.

– Winner: Students of VIT Vellore

– Runner-up: Students of NIT Rourkela

The event concluded with discussions on AI development and collaboration between researchers, developers, entrepreneurs and technology companies.

As AI continues to develop across industries and consumer applications, Samsung ennovateX provides a platform for researchers, industry and start-ups to exchange ideas and explore emerging technologies.

The second edition of Samsung ennovateX 2026 reaffirmed Samsung’s focus on responsible and human-centric AI, while highlighting the role of India’s technology ecosystem in AI and deep-tech development.

To know more about the event, visit ennovatex.io.

Samsung India today announced the Top 10 teams of its national education and innovation competition, ‘Solve for Tomorrow’, celebrating the spirit of innovation, enterprise and social responsibility amongst India’s Gen Z.

These 10 teams came up with ideas to solve real-world problems ranging from converting seawater into potable water,

identifying pests and diseases in crops, food wastage, cleaning beaches, developing a more sustainable leather tanning process to providing more accessibility to individuals with hearing loss. Their ideas also seek to bridge the communication gap with sign language users, find missing children, help individuals stay cool in the summers and help the visually impaired to read.

The Top 10 teams come from cities such as Maharajganj in Uttar Pradesh, Lakhimpur and Golaghat in Assam, Darjeeling in West Bengal, Surat and Ahmedabad in Gujarat, Ernakulam in Kerala, Chennai and Delhi.

Know more about the Top 10 teams and their ideas here – www.samsung.com/in/solvefortomorrow

For the second year of the competition, Samsung India has partnered with Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology’s (MeitY’s) Startup Hub and Foundation for Innovation & Technology Transfer (FITT), IIT Delhi.

The Top 10 teams of Solve for Tomorrow 2023 were shortlisted after a bootcamp at IIT

Delhi. These teams visited Samsung India offices, its R&D centres, design centre and Samsung Opera House in Bengaluru where they interacted with Samsung employees and researchers.

At the bootcamp, Samsung and its partners FITT and MeitY Startup Hub mentored them, helping them enhance their ideas. Each team also got INR 20,000 to create initial prototypes and then pitched their ideas to a jury of young Samsung employees. Each team member got a Samsung Galaxy Book3 Pro 360 laptop and Galaxy Buds2 Pro alongside a certificate for attending the bootcamp.

“We are proud of our ‘Solvers’. Through their ideas, they have shown their passion to solve the problems India faces today. Their diverse backgrounds make Solve for Tomorrow 2023 even more inclusive and we are glad Samsung is able to play its part in empowering and supporting the next generation to achieve their full potential and pioneer positive social changes. We look forward to how the Top 10 teams strengthen their solutions with the help of mentors from Samsung and its partners,” said Mr. Hyun Kim, Corporate Vice President, Samsung Southwest Asia.

“IIT Delhi is delighted to partner with Samsung to encourage young entrepreneurs to solve problems in society. The top ten finalists have been identified after a stringent selection process. We will help these teams work on their prototypes and see that their ideas make an impact in the real world,” said Prof. Rangan Banerjee, Director, IIT Delhi.

“It is great to see our country’s young minds coming up with such innovative ideas. The Top 10 teams really inspire us. With the Samsung Solve for Tomorrow program, we want to help these youth scale new heights and turn their ideas into action, transforming the country,” said Mr. Jeet Vijay, CEO, MeitY Startup Hub.

With an aim to foster a culture of innovative thinking and problem solving among the nation’s youth, the competition invited ideas from 16-22-year-olds to solve problems around four themes – Education & Learning, Health & Wellness, Environment & Sustainability and Diversity & Inclusion.

Solve for Tomorrow 2023 has seen youth from across 500 cities, towns and villages of India respond and submit ideas to help tackle problems that India faces, symbolic of the innovation and entrepreneurial spirit of Bharat.

Here are the top 10 teams and the problems they are solving:

Demeter: Developing a solution for identifying pests and diseases in crops

Hackvengers: Developing a sign language interpretation device that can bridge the communication gap between sign language users and non-signers promoting inclusivity

Jalraaj: Working on a portable solution to convert seawater into water that can be used for drinking

Milaan: Developed an app that will help families find their children who may have gone missing

Musketeers: Developing a solution to enhance accessibility and inclusivity for individuals with hearing loss, enabling them to overcome communication barriers and participate fully in society

NIT Surat: Finding a solution to the problem of cleaning beaches where significant amounts of waste is accumulated

Stemly: Addressing gender bias in STEM through AI and social-psychological interventions

TEG: Reusing food waste from cafeterias to create biogas that could power community project

Think: Developed a solution to help people stay cool in the scorching summer heat

Touchpad: Developing a reading solution for visually impaired individuals through use of tactile display-based pad

Over the next 12 weeks, the Top 10 teams will work on enhancing their prototypes for the final pitch that will be in front of an eminent jury in October 2023. For this, the teams will get an additional INR 100,000 each and mentoring support from Samsung employees and industry experts from IIT Delhi, who will handhold them in various areas including tech, design, marketing and policy.

These 10 teams will also feature in a TV series that will be produced by the News18 Group and be telecast on their national channels as well as OTT platform JioCinema. They will also get the latest Galaxy Z Flip smartphone.

The annual program will end with the grand announcement of three national winners who stand a chance to win INR 1.5 crore in prize money.

First launched in the US in 2010, Solve for Tomorrow is currently operational in 63 countries globally and has seen over 2.3 million young people participate worldwide.