Telangana rolls out global AI innovation entity Aikam at WEF at Davos

HYDERABAD: The Telangana govt announced the launch of Aikam, its flagship autonomous AI innovation entity that is being positioned as a “global proving ground” for deploying artificial intelligence (AI) at scale, on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum annual meeting in Davos on Thursday.Aikam has been designed with an eye on positioning Telangana among the world’s top 20 AI innovation hubs with capabilities that include mass upskilling to build an AI-ready workforce, support for AI-first startups, and deeper collaboration between academia, research institutions, and industry, Telangana govt said at the rollout of the innovative entity that was done by chief minister A Revanth Reddy.Aikam’s core driver is its emphasis on deep, symbiotic collaboration across global enterprises, research institutions, and academia, which will enable it to operate as a truly global, unified AI innovation entity, Telangana govt added.“Telangana believes in execution, not experimentation,” said CM Revanth Reddy at the rollout of Aikam.“Aikam institutionalizes our execution-first approach by converging existing and upcoming initiatives under a unified global entity. As the world moves from AI pilots to deployment at scale, we invite global partners to anchor their proving ground in Telangana—where AI is deployed responsibly, governed transparently, and scaled with trust,” the CM added.Telangana plans to support the framework with population-scale datasets, efficient compute infrastructure, and a dedicated AI Fund-of-Funds, IT & industries minister Duddilla Sridhar Babu said while describing the initiative as a mechanism to move from concept to deployment while maintaining public confidence.The state also launched the first edition of the Responsible AI Standard and Ethics (RAISE) Index, which is a quantifiable framework to translate responsible AI principles into measurable standards across the AI lifecycle, on the occasion.“We are at an inflection point where AI is reshaping economies at unprecedented speed. Aikam enables a clear execution pathway—from ideas to globally scalable solutions. Its autonomous structure, anchored within the govt of Telangana, allows us to move at speed while retaining public trust, enabling responsible AI adoption at population scale,” he explained.Pointing out that with Aikam Telangana is uniquely positioned to take AI from promise to practice at scale. Aikam’s founding CEO Phani Nagarjuna said it brings together deep talent density, strong institutional capacity, robust infrastructure, and global leadership with a clear bias for execution.On the occasion, multiple strategic memoranda of understanding (MoUs) were also signed with international players across skilling, compute, applied research, and design-led deployment, which Nagarjuna described as the first building blocks of a longer-term vision to bring global partners into an ecosystem designed to translate bold ideas into trusted, scalable solutions that can deliver impact worldwide.The MoUs signed included one with UK-based education giant Pearson, which plans to anchor a globally benchmarked AI Academy for world-class skilling and credentialing with Aikam.Dubai Multi Commodities Centre (DMCC)also inked a pact to activate high-impact, cross-border startup corridors between Telangana and Dubai, while Blaize Inc signed up with an eye on setting up an advanced R&D centre focused on highly efficient, deployment-ready AI computing.This even as AI CoLab of the MedStar–Georgetown Collaboration Centre signed the MoU to accelerate frontier applied research in healthcare and life sciences and Journey said it intends to lead a global Centre of Excellence for AI-driven design and immersive digital experiences.Telangana special chief secretary Sanjay Kumar said the agreements for Aikam signed at Davos were intended to set the tone for an outward-facing ecosystem. “Aikam is being built as a global institution from the outset and the MoUs signed at Davos represent our first concrete steps towards establishing an ecosystem that is global, execution-focused in design, and grounded in collaboration. Telangana believes that meaningful AI leadership is created by working with the world, not apart from it,” he said.A panel discussion on `Responsible Autonomy: Guardrails for the Age of Agentic AI, was also conducted on the occasion .