The Bali-based Gringgo Indonesia Foundation has secured research funding and assistance from tech giant Google to develop artificial intelligence (AI) that would help the country’s ongoing efforts in sorting and reducing plastic waste. 

The Gringgo Foundation is among 20 non-profit organizations from 12 countries to be sponsored by Google AI Impact Challenge. Google provided the foundation with US$25 million in research funding, in addition to assistance and training from the tech company’s AI division. 

Furthermore, the foundation will also join a six-month Google Launchpad Accelerator program that will run until November.

Gringgo Indonesia Foundation representative Febriadi Pratama said he expected Google’s sponsorship to bring about a positive change to the country.

“We just returned from a five-day program, along with 19 other sponsorship recipients in San Francisco. We presented several goals that we hope will be accomplished this November,” Febriadi said in a statement, adding that the Gringgo Foundation was the only Southeast Asian recipient of Google’s sponsorship. 

He went on to say the Gringgo Foundation would also collaborate with Jakarta-based data analytics firm Datanest.io to develop sustainable technology that would help Indonesia, as well as other countries, solve their plastic waste crises. 

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Google Indonesia representative Jason Tedjasukmana said the company had initiated the sponsorship program to use its AI technology for socially conscious purposes. 

“As a pioneer in AI technology, we have seen first-hand how our AI has helped solve issues related to health services, disaster mitigation, the environment and accessibility for the physically disabled,” Jason said. 

“We look forward to Gringgo Foundation’s AI innovation that will help Indonesia solve its plastic waste crisis.” (rfa/mut)