Lucknow, January 12, 2026
The Government of India, through the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology and IndiaAI, convened a hybrid meeting of the AI for Economic Growth and Social Good Working Group on January 12, 2026, in Lucknow, in collaboration with Elets Technomedia. Organised as part of the preparatory process for the AI Impact Summit, the meeting brought together member countries, international organisations, and key stakeholders to advance shared priorities and actionable outcomes on the responsible use of artificial intelligence for development.
The AI Impact Summit Working Groups are structured around seven interconnected thematic pillars, serving as collaborative platforms for building global consensus, exchanging best practices, and shaping policy-relevant and implementable approaches to critical AI challenges. The Lucknow meeting was designed as a hybrid engagement to enable wide international participation while anchoring discussions in real-world implementation contexts. The physical convening also facilitated engagement with India’s domestic AI ecosystem, including startups, research institutions, industry bodies, and public sector implementers.
The meeting aimed to advance convergence on key Working Group themes, mobilise countries and experts to contribute substantively to the Group’s deliverables, enable meaningful hybrid participation, and showcase India’s AI deployments as scalable use cases for economic growth and social good.
The public-facing segment of the meeting opened with a fireside chat featuring the Working Group Co-Chairs. The session commenced with a keynote address by Abhishek Singh, Additional Secretary, MeitY and CEO, IndiaAI Mission, outlining the vision and progress of the AI Impact Summit. Reflections were shared by Debjani Ghosh, Distinguished Fellow, NITI Aayog; Harry Verweij, Ambassador-at-Large, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of the Netherlands; and Arwin Datumaya Wahyudi Sumari, Special Staff to the Chief of Staff of the Air Force, Indonesian Air Force, who joined virtually. The discussion examined how diverse global perspectives have been brought together within the Working Group and translated into clearer priorities and pathways for action.
This was followed by a session on the Global AI Impact Commons, focusing on defining shared, trusted, and interoperable AI resources required to enable adoption for economic growth and social good, particularly from the perspective of the Global South. Moderated by Shalini Kapoor of the EkStep Foundation, the panel featured Shashank Chaudhary, Additional CEO, Invest UP; Nitin Saxena, Professor, IIT Kanpur; Madan Padaki; Pooja Sharma; and Suhel Bidani, Gates Foundation. The discussion explored governance models, interoperability frameworks, stewardship mechanisms, and ways to enable local deployment while maintaining global trust.
The agenda also included a session on the Global AI Impact Awards, examining how recognition mechanisms can incentivise responsible, scalable, and contextually relevant AI deployments. Moderated by Amlan Mohanty of Carnegie India, the panel brought together Deepak Mishra, World Bank; Kirit Pandey; Maya Sherman, Embassy of Israel, India; Harry Verweij, Ambassador-at-Large, Netherlands; and Nakul Jain, Wadhwani AI Global. The discussion focused on impact measurement, equity and representation, and linking awards to funding, partnerships, and pathways to scale.
The public sessions were followed by a closed-door Fourth Meeting of the AI for Economic Growth and Social Good Working Group, involving invited member countries and international organisations. The meeting focused on finalising key considerations around the Working Group’s deliverables and was attended by senior representatives from IndiaAI, MeitY, the Ministry of External Affairs, and the Government of Uttar Pradesh, including Anurag Yadav, Principal Secretary, Department of IT and Electronics, Government of Uttar Pradesh, and Kavita Bhatia, Group Coordinator, AI & ET Division, MeitY and COO, IndiaAI Mission, who moderated the session.
The hybrid Working Group meeting concluded with networking interactions among participants, reinforcing international collaboration and a shared commitment to leveraging artificial intelligence for inclusive economic growth and social good.
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