Google on Tuesday unveiled a series of high-impact collaborations and funding initiatives at the “Lab to Impact” dialogue, held in partnership with the India AI Impact Summit 2026, reinforcing its long-term commitment to India’s artificial intelligence ecosystem.
The technology giant announced multi-million-dollar investments spanning healthcare, education, startups, sustainability, and India’s Digital Public Infrastructure, aimed at accelerating the country’s AI-led development.
A key highlight was Google’s decision to invest $400,000 in building India’s Health Foundation Model using MedGemma, in collaboration with AIIMS and the Indian Institute of Science (IISc). The model will initially focus on dermatology, enabling hospitals to better prioritise patients in outpatient departments. It will also help standardise medical records using the FHIR framework and map over 400,000 health facilities on Google Maps.
In the academic and research space, Google announced $8 million in funding for four AI Centres of Excellence at IISc Bengaluru, IIT Kanpur, IIT Madras, and IIT Ropar. These centres will apply artificial intelligence to address challenges in non-communicable diseases, urban governance, education, and agriculture. Additionally, $2 million has been allocated to IIT Bombay to establish the Indic Language Technologies Research Hub, strengthening AI development across India’s diverse languages.
Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said the Centres of Excellence represent a coordinated national research mission focused on foundational research, responsible AI, and public-interest applications aligned with the vision of Viksit Bharat 2047.
To boost India’s startup and developer ecosystem, Google announced $50,000 each in funding for AI startups Gnani.AI, CoRover.AI, and BharatGen to advance Indic language models. The company has also uploaded 22 Gemma models to AIKosh, India’s open AI platform. Further, Google committed $4.5 million to Wadhwani AI to develop multilingual AI tools such as HealthVaani and Garuda, delivered through the AgriVaani agriculture advisory platform.
In line with its sustainability goals, Google also partnered with ReNew Energy to launch a 150 MW solar power project in Rajasthan, which will help power Google’s operations using clean energy and reduce the carbon footprint associated with AI infrastructure.
According to research shared at the event, these combined initiatives could help India save nearly ₹390 billion annually in healthcare costs. Commenting on the broader vision, Dr Manish Gupta, Senior Research Director at Google DeepMind, said the company’s full-stack approach—from foundational research to large-scale deployment—positions India to emerge as a global leader in AI-driven innovation.
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