New Delhi: Google has outlined a series of artificial intelligence investments and institutional partnerships aimed at expanding applied AI use across India’s digital public infrastructure.
The company said the initiatives, announced under its “Lab to Impact” programme, will prioritise healthcare delivery, academic research, language technologies, and sustainability-linked infrastructure. A key component is Google’s funding support for the development of India’s Health Foundation Model, built with AIIMS and the Indian Institute of Science (IISc). Using Google’s MedGemma technology, the model will initially focus on dermatology, with an emphasis on outpatient triage, workflow efficiency, and structured health records aligned with the FHIR framework. Google also plans to support the mapping of health facilities to improve access and interoperability.
In research, Google will fund four AI Centres of Excellence at IISc Bengaluru, IIT Kanpur, IIT Madras, and IIT Ropar. These centres will work on applied AI use cases in areas such as non-communicable diseases, agriculture, urban systems, and education, with an emphasis on solutions that can be deployed at scale.
The company is also investing in India’s language technology ecosystem through an Indic Language Technologies Research Hub at IIT Bombay and grants to selected startups developing Indic-language AI models. Separately, Google announced a partnership with ReNew Energy to support a 150 MW solar project in Rajasthan, linking its expanding AI operations with renewable energy capacity.
