The Cloud Computing Innovation Award
Cloud stopped being a destination some time ago; what distinguishes work now is architecture, economics and operational discipline. This category recognises platform engineering, migration, multi-cloud design and the cost and reliability work that makes scale survivable.
- Independent jury
- 250
- Innovations evaluated
- 4,500+
- Star rating
- 1–5
- Running since
- 2010
Academics, scientists, officials, investors
Across seventeen editions
Every nominee earns an AGBA Innovation Star
India’s longest-running innovation award
Three categories sit close to data. This is the one about method and evidence.
Most nominations that fail here fail because they were in the wrong category. Read across before you write anything.
Innovation in Cloud Computing
Platform engineering, migration, multi-cloud architecture and the cost and reliability work behind scale.
This category
Innovation in Telecom / 5G / 6G
Networks, spectrum and transport — increasingly cloud-native themselves.
Innovation in Cyber Security
Protection, threat response and the security posture cloud platforms are judged against.
Who should enter
- Platform engineering that measurably improved developer throughput
- Large migrations where the sequencing and cutover were the achievement
- Multi-cloud, hybrid and sovereign-cloud architectures with a real driver
- FinOps work with defensible cost-per-unit improvement
- Reliability engineering: availability, recovery and blast-radius design
What this award recognises is architectural judgement that survived production — the trade-offs you chose to accept, and the numbers that followed. Adopting a managed service is not, by itself, innovation.
If the innovation is in the network layer, enter Innovation in Telecom / 5G / 6G. If the case rests on protection and threat response, enter Innovation in Cyber Security.
What the jury looks for
- Problem definition & market opportunityWhether the innovation solves a real problem, backed by evidence and a measurable impact on its target audience.
- InnovativenessNovelty and uniqueness — new technology, functionality or business model — measured against what already exists, including IP.
- Market potential & impactSize and growth of the addressable market, competitive landscape, and scalability across geographies.
- Social impact & sustainabilityContribution to society and the environment, including social responsibility and the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
These are the same four criteria — problem definition, innovativeness, market impact and social/sustainability impact — used to assess every category. In this category the jury also weighs methodological rigour — including what you did to avoid fooling yourselves — the decision that changed as a result and what it was worth, the reproducibility and honesty of the evaluation, and the engineering quality of the data foundation underneath. Read the full evaluation criteria.
Who judges this category
Nominations are assessed by an independent jury, not by the organisers. Jurors are matched to the categories where their expertise lies. These are among those who read cloud, platform and digital infrastructure entries.
Prof. Rajkumar BuyyaRedmond Barry Distinguished Professor; Director, Cloud Computing and Distributed Systems Lab, University of Melbourne
Prof. D. JanakiramDirector, Institute for Development and Research in Banking Technology
Prof. Satish Narayana SriramaAssociate Professor, Computer and Information Sciences, University of Hyderabad
Dr. Neelesh KumbhojkarDirector, Symbiosis International University; former Cloud competency head, Tech Mahindra
Dr. Neeta VermaFormer Director General, National Informatics Centre
Mr Sandeep PhanasgaonkarFounder, agileITvantages
Dr. Ebin Deni RajAssistant Professor, Computer Science and Engineering, IIIT Kottayam
Prof. Somanath TripathyProfessor, Computer Science and Engineering, IIT PatnaEight of roughly 250. The full panel spans the IITs, the IIMs, the IIITs, the Indian School of Business, NITI Aayog and central ministries, the Department of Science & Technology, MeitY and CERT-In. See the full jury panel.
Infrastructure on the podium
Cloud and digital infrastructure work has been recognised in every recent edition. These are among the most recent winners, photographed at the ceremony.
Previous winners
The category has been named Cloud in the earlier editions and Digital Infra more recently, as the work moved from migration to platform and infrastructure engineering. The complete record sits in the winners archive.
Category names have changed across editions as the field has moved; the rows above are the closest equivalents in the published record. See the winners archive for the full 1st–16th edition history.
What happens after you submit
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Stage one · nowNomination registration
Register your company and category through the nomination process, then complete the detailed nomination form and processing fee.
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Stage twoJury presentation
Present the innovation to the jury and take questions. Jurors score each entry against the four evaluation criteria and rank it within its category.
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Stage threeStar Certification
Nominees are also assessed for AGBA Innovation Star Certification, an independent maturity rating alongside the category judging.
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Stage fourFinalists announced
Once every category has been evaluated, finalists are announced on the website ahead of the ceremony.
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Stage fiveAward ceremony
Winners are honoured on 18 February 2027 at Hotel Ashoka, Chanakyapuri, New Delhi.
Before you write your nomination
Is a migration project innovative enough to enter?
It can be. Where the sequencing, cutover and risk management were the achievement, say so plainly and show the before and after.
Does adopting a managed cloud service count?
Not on its own. The panel looks for the architectural decision you made and defended, and the measurable result of it.
How is cost work assessed?
On defensible cost-per-unit improvement — per transaction, per user, per workload — with the method stated, not a headline percentage.
How do I submit a nomination?
Nominations are submitted through the nomination process, which sets out the stages, the supporting material required and the current edition’s dates.
Put your architecture in front of the panel
Nominations for the Cloud Computing Innovation Award are read by an independent jury of architects, researchers and platform engineers. Bring the trade-offs and the numbers that followed them.