2 min readBengaluruUpdated: Apr 25, 2026 05:25 PM IST
The Indian Institute of Science’s Centre for Brain Research in Bengaluru has launched an ‘AI Challenge for Healthy Brain Aging’ to help track the causes of various issues, such as dementia.
With Indians being underrepresented in global studies on brain aging, the competition calls for AI tools and models that can aid in research for diseases like dementia and Alzheimers – by predicting the development of mild dementia, etc.
Participants in teams of up to five (from Indian institutions only) can use several datasets to help create their tools, such as the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative, UK Biobank, and many others. They will also retain intellectual property rights for their creations, though they may have to provide a usage licence to the Centre.
Judging will be done through a process involving a “multidisciplinary team of experts from the Centre for Brain Research (CBR), Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Microsoft Research Lab India (MSR)”.
Submissions, which began on April 20, will close on May 20. The various stages of the competition will culminate in the Finalist Pitch in February next year.
The award will include prize money and grants valued up to Rs 2 crore.
This is the second such recent major initiative in Bengaluru dealing with large databases of information aimed at tackling brain disorders.
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In March, a digital repository of brain information known as CALM-Brain was launched at the National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (Nimhans) by researchers at the Rohini Nilekani Centre for Brain and Mind.
The various forms of information stored in this database are used in neuropsychiatric disease research, targeting issues like disease onset and progression, and changes that lead to disease symptoms.
