Four dimensions of AI excellence: Where innovation meets business impact

AI is becoming easier to deploy, while proving its value is becoming harder. A successful AI initiative now has to answer tougher questions. What changed after it was deployed? Did people actually adopt it? Can the impact be sustained and scaled? And who is responsible for turning the technology into a business advantage?

The ET AI Awards 2027 return for their second edition to recognise the organisations, teams and leaders answering those questions through applied AI. The awards bring together 40+ categories across 4 tracks: Innovation & Impact, Functional Excellence, Leadership and Special Awards, spanning startups, SMEs and enterprises.

Innovation & Impact: Where AI creates value

The Innovation & Impact track looks at AI through the lens of products, solutions and industry applications. From early-stage startups building AI-native businesses to SMEs applying AI to specific business challenges and enterprises transforming established industries, the track reflects the different stages of AI adoption across the market. The focus is on work where innovation moves into application and creates tangible value for businesses, customers and industries.

Functional Excellence: Where AI changes how business works

AI is reshaping more than individual products. It is changing how organisations make decisions, manage operations, develop talent, generate revenue and build technology. The Functional Excellence track recognises this shift, focusing on the role AI is playing across the business functions that influence performance. It captures a different dimension of AI progress: how effectively organisations are embedding the technology into the way work gets done.

Leadership: Where people set the direction

Technology can create new possibilities. Leadership determines how organisations pursue them. The Leadership track recognises the entrepreneurs, technology leaders, business leaders and teams driving AI forward. It brings attention to the people making strategic decisions, building capabilities and taking organisations from AI ambition to execution. For an industry evolving as quickly as AI, leadership increasingly means knowing where to invest, where to experiment and where to turn successful applications into scale.

Special Awards: Where the next possibilities emerge

Some developments in AI sit beyond established industries and business functions. New models are emerging around AI-native businesses, agentic systems, access, platforms and sustainability. The Special Awards track recognises these developments and the ideas expanding the scope of what AI can achieve. It provides space for work that is pushing into emerging areas and opening up new possibilities for businesses and the wider ecosystem.

A broader view of AI excellence

Together, the four tracks offer a wider view of progress in AI. Innovation matters, but so do adoption, scalability, technical strength and the outcomes created for the business.

The ET AI Awards 2027 assess eligible nominations across Innovation & Differentiation, Scalability & Adoption, Business Impact and Technical Excellence, with shortlisted entries undergoing grand jury assessment across strategic relevance, execution & measurable outcomes, market potential and overall excellence. The framework ultimately looks beyond the presence of AI to what organisations are actually doing with it.

40+ categories. 4 tracks. One platform recognising the organisations, teams and leaders shaping India’s AI landscape.

Find your track and put your work forward. Nominate Now!