Indian universities showcase their AI strengths at India AI Impact Summit 2026
In our fourth photo essay from the India AI Impact Summit in New Delhi, we showcase 12 pavilions by Indian universities.
Launched in 2014, PhotoSparks is a weekly feature from YourStory, with photographs that celebrate the spirit of creativity and innovation. In the earlier 955 posts, we featured an art festival, cartoon gallery. world music festival, telecom expo, millets fair, climate change expo, wildlife conference, startup festival, Diwali rangoli, and jazz festival.
In Part I, Part II and Part III of our photo essay series from the India AI Impact Expo, we featured Indian startups, the international pavilions of France, UK, Russia, Australia, Japan, and Africa, a range of global products for AI, and the AI initiatives of Indian states.
The India AI Impact Summit wraps up this week in New Delhi at Bharat Mandapam, with the exhibition area drawing tens of thousands of daily visitors. See YourStory’s coverage of summit insights from Razorpay, Pine Labs, Sarvam AI, and Physics Wallah.
In this photo essay, we feature the booths of 12 Indian universities: IIT Bombay, IIT Madras, IIT Kharagpur, BITS Pilani, Amity University, Lovely Professional University, MIET, Dayanand Sagar University, VG University, Madan Mohan Malaviya University, AKTU, and Era University.
The Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IIT Bombay) is a major hub for both academic AI research and implementation. Its Technocraft Centre for Applied Artificial Intelligence (TCA2I) promotes interdisciplinary work, and its incubator SINE (Society for Innovation and Entrepreneurship) supports early-stage startups. The BharatGen Technology Foundation aims at creating large language models tailored to India’s context.
The Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras) is a leader in both cutting-edge AI research and responsible AI development. It hosts dedicated initiatives such as the Centre for Responsible AI (CeRAI) and the Wadhwani School of Data Science and AI. The IIT Madras Incubation Cell (IITMIC), located at the Research Park, has nurtured over 500 deeptech startups.
The Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur (IIT Kharagpur) has a dedicated AI4ICPS (AI for Interdisciplinary Cyber-Physical Systems) initiative. Its innovation ecosystem around AI is supported through structured incubation and entrepreneurship programmes.
Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani (BITS Pilani) is planning an AI+ Campus at Amaravati as a specialised hub for AI, robotics, and cyber-physical systems. Its network of Technology Business Incubators (TBIs) across the Pilani, Goa, and Hyderabad campuses offers mentorship, infrastructure, seed funding and strategic guidance to early-stage startups.
Amity University’s Centre for Artificial Intelligence (ACAI) hosts high-performance infrastructure to enable deep learning, generative AI, and computer vision applications. It regularly organises national AI events such as the AICraft competition. The Amity Innovation Incubator provides business planning support, legal guidance, and access to funding networks.
Lovely Professional University (LPU) is embedding AI into its academic programmes and student projects. Its Accelerated Incubation Program offers mentorship, networking, and seed funding opportunities to help students.
Meerut Institute of Engineering & Technology (MIET) offers AI courses and supports student-driven technical clubs. The MIET Incubation Forum acts as a platform for young innovators and early-stage technology ventures.
Dayananda Sagar University (DSU) in Bengaluru has collaborated with NVIDIA to build what it calls India’s first AI-first factory for real-world AI system development. DSU is also establishing multiple industry-integrated Centres of Excellence across sectors. It nurtures innovation through its Atal Incubation Centre-DSU.
Vivekananda Global University (VGU) operates over 50 research groups and has frequent workshops, hackathons, project competitions, and events that focus on AI. These include OpenAI Academy and NxtWave AI Buildathon.
Madan Mohan Malaviya University of Technology, Gorakhpur is increasing its capacity in the field of AI. Student groups such as AI Spark MMMUT focus on practical workshops and training in generative AI systems.
Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Technical University plans to establish dedicated AI institutes at its Lucknow campus and a partner location in Noida. It hosts events like AI Tech Confluence and hackathons.
Its Incubator Empowerment Scheme offers a range of support for aspiring entrepreneurs. This includes financial backing and mentorship for bootcamps, pitchathons and startup fairs.
Era University, Lucknow encourages projects that apply AI and computing to solve real-world problems. Its Center for Start-Up Training, Research and Acceleration (ECSTRA) offers pre-incubation programmes for multidisciplinary innovators.
Hindustan Institute of Technology and Science hosts the Machine Intelligence and Data Analytics Research Center. It also has initiatives like Intellithon, a national 24-hour AI hackathon.
Now what have you done today to pause in your busy schedule and harness your creative side for a better world?
(All photographs taken by Madanmohan Rao on location at India AI Impact Summit.)