Bengaluru: Priyank Kharge discusses AI with UK minister

Bengaluru: IT-BT Minister Priyank Kharge met UK Minister for AI and Digital Government Kanishka Narayan in Bengaluru on Monday to discuss matters related to AI, online safety, digital public infrastructure, startup ecosystems, and cross-border innovation partnerships.

Both leaders discussed the importance of data sovereignty, ethical AI deployment, and strategic independence in AI infrastructure. A key outcome of the meeting was the proposal to create a formal Karnataka-UK Innovation Bridge to deepen startup and ecosystem linkages between the two regions.

The proposals include joint co-working and incubation spaces for UK and Karnataka startups, annual bilateral startup exchange programmes, collaboration between CoEs in priority AI sectors, accelerated market access support for startups in both ecosystems.

Narayan noted the UK’s interest in structured, sector-specific collaboration, particularly in AI for science, curated national datasets, and advanced compute infrastructure. “Deeper collaboration with Karnataka can help shape globally-relevant, trusted AI systems,” he said.

“Through focused policies, infrastructure, and partnerships, we are ensuring that Karnataka remains deeply integrated with global technology value-chains and continues to be a preferred destination for innovation,” Kharge noted.