The Functional AI Innovation Award
This category is for AI put to work inside a business function — sales, marketing, customer experience, operations, finance and supply chain. The model matters less here than the workflow it changed and the numbers that followed.
- 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 Functional AI
AI applied inside a function: sales, marketing, CX, operations, finance and supply chain.
This category
Innovation in Core AI
Foundation models, agentic systems and the AI itself rather than its application.
Innovation in Industry AI
Vertical AI built for one industry — BFSI, health, retail, telecom, manufacturing.
Who should enter
- Sales, marketing and customer-experience systems with measured conversion or service outcomes
- Finance, risk and compliance workflows where AI changed cycle time or accuracy
- Operations, IT and digital-workplace automation with adoption data
- Supply chain and planning applications running against real constraints
- Agent and copilot deployments that moved a function’s numbers, not a demo’s
What this award recognises is a function that works differently now — fewer handoffs, faster close, better resolution. Model choice is context, not the achievement.
If the innovation is in the model or the platform itself, enter Innovation in Core AI. If it is built for one industry’s workflow, enter Innovation in Industry AI.
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 applied and functional AI entries.
Dr. Avik SarkarBig Data and AI expert, Indian School of Business
Prof. Arunabha MukhopadhyayProfessor, Information Technology and Systems, IIM Lucknow
Prof. Saurabh KumarAssistant Professor, Information Systems, IIM Indore
Dr. Aloknath DeFormer Chief Technology Officer, Samsung R&D Institute India
Dr. Ashutosh ModiAssistant Professor, Computer Science and Engineering, IIT Kanpur
Prof. Muhammad BilalProfessor, Applied Artificial Intelligence and Technology Ethics, Birmingham City Business School
Prof. D. JanakiramDirector, Institute for Development and Research in Banking Technology
Prof Satish Narayana SriramaAssociate Professor, Computer and Information Sciences, University of HyderabadEight 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.
Functions on the podium
The 16th edition split generative AI into functional groups — CX and GTM, operations, BFSI, autonomous software. These are among the winners, photographed at the ceremony.
Previous winners
Functional AI was recognised as a set of generative AI groups at the 16th edition, and under broader AI and automation labels before that. 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
How is this different from the Core AI category?
Core AI is about the model, the platform or the agentic system itself. This category is about a function that now runs differently because AI was applied to it.
Do we need to name the model we used?
Say what you used and why, but the panel weighs the workflow change and the measured result far more heavily than the choice of model.
Is an internal deployment eligible without a product?
Yes. Internal deployments are read on the same criteria, and often have the clearest before-and-after numbers.
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 workflow in front of the panel
Nominations for the Functional AI Innovation Award are read by an independent jury of practitioners and researchers. Bring the function’s numbers before and after, not the model card.