Google.org has announced a €10 million ($10.7 million) innovation fund to help European social entrepreneurs from underserved backgrounds develop transformative artificial intelligence (AI) solutions to address challenges in their communities.

Through a grant to INCO, a Paris-based tech incubator and investment company, the Google.org Social Innovation Fund on AI will support the expansion of the Google.org-funded Social Tides accelerator program and provide grants of up to $250,000 to social entrepreneurs leveraging AI in their work. In addition, Google.org will offer mentoring and technical support through its Google for Startups Accelerator and provide grants to nonprofits to enable access to training and support for social entrepreneurs on how to develop and deploy AI solutions.

The new fund follows a €20 million ($21.4 million) initiative in 2021 that included grants to Promilist in Greece, which used AI to reduce fuel consumption for maritime shipping and The Newsroom in Portugal, which created an AI-powered mobile app to contextualize news.

“Social entrepreneurs…from underrepresented communities…in Europe face significant barriers to growing their business and scaling their impact,” wrote Google.org Europe, Middle East, and Africa director Rowan Barnett in a blog post. “[W]e’re hopeful that by empowering social entrepreneurs to create and scale AI-based solutions, together we’ll accelerate progress toward the [United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals] and a more just, green planet.”

(Photo credit: Getty Images/imaginima)