ANAIS applications are open - join Nepal's flagship AI winter school.
Learn moreNAAMII (NepAl Applied Mathematics and Informatics Institute for research) is a Multi-disciplinary AI Center of Excellence (profit not distributing) founded by Nepali researchers with the mission of building a self-sustaining ecosystem that advances the frontiers of AI research, develops world-class talent, and drives innovation to solve high-impact problems in emerging economies.
Through research, education & outreach, and industry-driven innovation, we push the boundaries of AI to tackle pressing challenges, democratize access, and improve lives globally.
The world is in a period of extraordinary technological change: one that, unlike previous waves, carries the genuine potential for low- and middle-income countries to not just receive these advances, but to shape them.
And yet the populations that represent 85% of the world remain largely absent from the conversations shaping where the field goes next, their languages barely present in existing datasets, their most pressing problems underrepresented in the scientific literature.
The founders of NAAMII believed that closing this gap requires both scientific excellence and local relevance: that the most high-impact problems in global health, language access, or climate resilience are also among the most scientifically interesting problems of our time.
This was the conviction that birthed NAAMII.
We advance global scientific progress through multidisciplinary research across computer vision, NLP, healthcare AI, computational genomics, climate systems, and the social dimensions of AI. We publish annually in leading venues, and measure our work by whether it reaches the people it was meant to serve.
We build capacity for people to work in and shape an AI-driven world, through workshops, training programs, research mentorship, and our flagship Annual Nepal AI School (ANAIS), preparing a generation who ask questions, think critically, and are doers, not just consumers.
We enable tech transfer through R&D partnerships and startup incubation, translating discoveries into equitable value and generating the resources to sustain the ecosystem: research driving new ventures, ventures enabling more research, education producing the talent that drives both.
As one founder articulated the deeper motivation:
“For any rational mind, thinking, worrying, or blaming has no meaning. Acting, in any way possible, is the only way to show you truly care. I want NAAMII to be a symbol that we care, and to set an example for dreamers, even in tough circumstances.”
NAAMII didn't start with a budget. It started with people who chose to act, and with partners who backed them early.
Before NAAMII existed, the idea and the team had to come together. Colleagues in Nepal and abroad rallied around a shared vision of a dedicated AI and applied mathematics research institute in Nepal, and turned individual commitments into a collective effort.
Together they shaped the institute's purpose, structure and three pillars: Research, Education and Outreach, and Industry and Innovation. After sustained consultation and preparation, NAAMII was formally registered in 2018.
Two early sources of seed funding got NAAMII running, and years of research growth followed.
Months of dialogue with the CEO of Fusemachines, beginning before NAAMII's formal registration, led to a distinctive early industry partnership. Through a seed grant agreement, Fusemachines Nepal Pvt. Ltd. enabled NAAMII's founding chair to return to Nepal in early 2019, earlier than planned, to establish the institute's operations while also providing research support, training and mentoring to Fusemachines' engineering teams.
Early funding combined with a real exchange of expertise laid the groundwork for NAAMII's industry collaborations. We remain grateful to Fusemachines for backing NAAMII when it mattered most.
The inaugural Nepal AI School, which grew into our flagship Annual Nepal AI School (ANAIS), brought founders, faculty, colleagues, volunteers and friends of NAAMII together for an ambitious international event. It was made possible by Ncell's major sponsorship, alongside support from other sponsors.
Many faculty members and supporters paid for their own travel and accommodation, so part of the budget could be kept for NAAMII's early operations. Together, the Fusemachines seed grant and the funds preserved through the school gave NAAMII its two essential sources of seed funding.
NAAMII expanded its research, collaborations and education, producing nearly 80 publications in top-tier venues and training more than 3,000 people. Autonomous research groups drove this growth. They were led by full-time faculty on site and by adjunct faculty abroad, working through remote and virtual labs. Research grants, collaborative projects and industry R&D services sustained the work.
NAAMII is now reforming its governance, expanding its research and education programs, and building the infrastructure to support them.
This marks an intentional shift. Instead of relying mainly on research projects and industry R&D services, NAAMII is establishing dedicated core funding for core staff and essential operations, giving it the continuity to pursue its long-term mission.
As NAAMII-incubated startups and research spin-offs mature, we envision returns from equity holdings helping sustain our research, education and innovation mission. This remains a long-term ambition, not a current funding activity.
We call ourselves a center of excellence not as a title, but as a standard we hold ourselves to. Excellence, for us, means research rigorous enough to stand anywhere in the world, education that genuinely changes what people are capable of, and innovation that reaches the people it was built for. That is what we are working toward, and what we want NAAMII to be a symbol of.
