Innov8Ability For India

An exclusive evening of cause, conversations, and capital.

India has 2.68 crore people living with disabilities. Fewer than 1% ever get the opportunity to contribute to research and innovation — not because of a lack of ideas or capability, but because the spaces, systems, and capital needed to support them simply don’t exist.

Innov8Ability For India is India Rising Foundation’s flagship initiative to change that. Positioned as India’s first accessible, multidisciplinary R&D ecosystem, it is built to recruit, enable, and launch researchers with disabilities — turning intellectual potential into patents, products, and livelihoods.

The evening of 23 May brings together a room of people who have the power to build what India has been missing: infrastructure for inclusion, capital aligned with purpose, and a shared commitment to positioning India as the world’s most inclusive R&D capital by 2047.

WHAT TO EXPECT

WHO IS INVITED

This is not charity. This is nation-building.

The inaugural corpus target is ₹10 Crore — funding lab infrastructure, researcher grants & fellowships, IP support, and enterprise pathways. Partners are invited to co-design their association with the lab and be present at a landmark moment in India’s inclusion story.

Awards & Nominations

India Rising Innov8Ability Awards

Every year, India produces innovators whose brilliance goes unseen — researchers, inventors, educators, and creators with disabilities who have quietly changed lives, broken barriers, and advanced entire fields without recognition, resources, or a room of their own. These awards exist to change that. 10 awards, 10 domains. One shared belief: that the most transformative ideas often come from those the system overlooked.

AWARD DOMAINS

WHO CAN BE NOMINATED

Individuals

Researchers, inventors, practitioners, educators, artists, or entrepreneurs with a disability — at any stage of their journey, anywhere in India.

Institutions

Organisations, labs, collectives, or social enterprises led by or built primarily to enable persons with disabilities to innovate and create.

Self-nominations welcome

If you have work you believe deserves recognition, you are encouraged to put yourself forward. Nominations by peers, mentors, or community members are equally valued.

WHAT WE LOOK FOR

Original work, research, innovation, or contribution within one of the 10 award domains
Demonstrated impact — on lives, communities, fields, or systems — however local or large
The nominee is a person with a disability, or the institution is primarily led by or built for persons with disabilities
The work is grounded in India — even if its reach extends beyond
No minimum age, qualification, or institutional affiliation required

HOW TO NOMINATE

Tell their story

Briefly describe the nominee’s work, the problem they addressed, and the impact they have created or are creating.

Submit the form

Complete the online nomination form or write to admin@indiarising.org.in with subject: “Innov8Ability Award Nomination”.

We take it forward

Nominations are reviewed by an independent jury. Shortlisted nominees will be contacted before the event on 23 May 2026.

NOMINATION DEADLINE - 10th May 2026

Know someone whose work deserves to be seen?

The greatest injustice is brilliance that never gets noticed. If you know an innovator, researcher, artist, or institution doing extraordinary work — and living with a disability — please take two minutes to put their name forward. Recognition changes trajectories.

Innov8Ability For India

Innov8Ability For India

DATE

VENUE

ENTRY

WHAT TO EXPECT

Opening Address by India Rising Foundation