IBM Expands GovTech Push in India With Lucknow AI Center
Backed by two MoUs with Uttar Pradesh, the initiative targets high-impact governance applications and AI literacy in schools.
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[Image creative: Chetan Jha/MITSMR India]
Indian state governments are moving from AI experimentation to institutional deployment, IBM CEO Arvind Krishna said on Sunday, as the company inaugurated an AI GovTech Innovation Center in Lucknow aimed at supporting production-grade public sector deployments.
“AI will define the next era of government effectiveness and economic competitiveness and it is encouraging to see this level of openness to responsible AI adoption,” Krishna said.
The center, launched in partnership with the government of Uttar Pradesh, will serve as a collaborative platform where AI use cases can be developed, validated and scaled across departments, IBM said.
The initiative is backed by two memorandums of understanding with the state.
The first, with the Department of IT and Electronics, focuses on advancing high-impact AI applications and strengthening digital and AI readiness across government departments.
The second, with the Directorate of School Education, introduces an AI literacy program for students in Grades 6 to 12 and teachers.
Krishna said governments are increasingly seeking “responsible AI adoption” as citizen expectations rise and data volumes grow, adding that India’s openness to AI deployment makes it a priority market for IBM’s public sector strategy.
The Lucknow facility will work with state departments to identify operational use cases, including service delivery optimization, administrative automation and analytics driven decision making, according to IBM and state officials present at the inauguration.
The Lucknow campus expands IBM’s footprint in Uttar Pradesh. The company already operates a Software Lab in the city contributing to its global software portfolio, as well as an IBM Consulting FutureNow Center serving clients in India and overseas.
IBM has also deepened ties with academic institutions in the state. In July 2025, it partnered with the Airawat Research Foundation at IIT Kanpur’s Center of Excellence in AI for Sustainable Cities to deploy AI solutions focused on air quality monitoring and urban sustainability.
