Clear Skies Challenge
Innovating for Cleaner Air through Geospatial Intelligence.
The Clear Skies Challenge 2025 is a national Ideathon and Hackathon focused on tackling air pollution through AI-powered geospatial solutions. It aims to develop scalable, real-world tools to monitor, predict, and mitigate air quality challenges.
The program is part of Operation Dronagiri (initiated by DST’s Geospatial Innovation Council), with IIT Tirupati Navavishkar I-Hub Foundation (IITTNiF) as the nodal agency, and supported by IISc Bangalore – Centre for Public Good, Google, A-PAG, and TiE Delhi-NCR.
Why This Challenge?
Air pollution causes millions of deaths annually and harms ecosystems, agriculture, and the climate. Leveraging geospatial intelligence and AI, innovators can design new ways to analyze pollution sources, predict risks, and drive cleaner, sustainable urban solutions.
The challenge combines data from the Geospatial Data-Sharing Interface (GDI), Google AirView+, and ArcGIS, focusing on Gurugram, Varanasi, and Vizianagaram to demonstrate actionable, data-driven impact.
Objectives of the Theme
Mitigate
- Design AI-GIS solutions to reduce air pollution at its source — traffic, industries, and other emission hotspots.
- Address pollution impacts across sectors like Healthcare, Finance, Tourism, and Infrastructure.
- Develop urban planning tools for green infrastructure and low-emission zones.
Empower Communities
- Build citizen science platforms enabling individuals to monitor and report air quality.
- Develop awareness and behavioral change tools for cleaner, healthier environments.
Objectives of the Theme
Prizes & Incentives
Cash Prizes:
Special Awards
Best Use of ArcGIS – 1-year ArcGIS Personal Use License
Top 50 Teams – USD 500 Google Cloud Credits (valid for 5 months)
Additional Benefits
Problem Statement
Agriculture
Smart Cities
Infrastructure & Clean Mobility
Industrial Emission Control
Healthcare
Sustainable Travel & Eco-Tourism
Real Estate & Urban Planning
Community-Driven Air Quality Solutions
Key Partners
Knowledge Partners
Strategic Partners
Sustainability Partners
Incubation Partners
Academic Partners
Industry Partners
Geospatial Innovation Accelerator (GIA) Partners
