BENGALURU, India – August 11, 2026 — CHRIST (Deemed to be University) and IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced the establishment of the IBM Innovation Center for Artificial Intelligence in Bengaluru. Designed to foster next-generation talent and accelerate cutting-edge research, the strategic initiative creates an enterprise-grade ecosystem where academic inquiry directly aligns with industry application. The center provides students, faculty members, researchers, and PhD scholars with hands-on access to advanced technologies to develop, experiment with, and deploy AI solutions for real-world challenges.
The center will support interdisciplinary research across key domains, including generative AI, agentic AI, large language models (LLMs), retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), intelligent automation, and responsible AI framework governance. Participants will utilize IBM’s technology stack to build enterprise applications, including watsonx.ai, an end-to-end AI development studio; watsonx Orchestrate, an agentic control plane designed to scale and govern AI; and IBM Bob, an AI development partner that assists developers throughout the software engineering lifecycle.
Highlighting the transformative vision behind the center, Dr. Fr. Jose C C, Vice Chancellor of CHRIST (Deemed to be University), stated: “Artificial Intelligence is redefining every sector of society. Through this collaboration with IBM, CHRIST University is creating a future-ready innovation ecosystem where education, research, and industry converge. The IBM Innovation Center for Artificial Intelligence will empower our students and researchers with enterprise-grade AI technologies, enabling them to build impactful solutions while contributing to the advancement of responsible and ethical AI.”
To ensure effective technology adoption, IBM Expert Labs will lead comprehensive training and enablement workshops for faculty and postgraduate researchers, deepening expertise in enterprise AI deployment across diverse academic disciplines. Participants will also leverage IBM SkillsBuild, IBM’s flagship free technology education program, to complete specialized learning paths and earn recognized credentials.
Addressing the broader impact on the region’s technology landscape, Siddhesh Naik, Executive Director, Growth Markets, Technology Sales, IBM India & South Asia, said: “The future of AI innovation depends on strong collaboration between academia and industry. By fostering deeper industry-academia collaboration, we aim to strengthen India’s AI talent pipeline, accelerate research and innovation, and help prepare the workforce needed for an AI-driven future. This initiative will enable students, faculty, researchers, and PhD scholars to gain hands-on experience with enterprise AI technologies while applying them to real-world challenges.”
Emphasizing the technological shift in software creation, Vishal Chahal, Vice President, IBM India Software Lab, added: “The way software is built is being fundamentally reshaped by AI. Through this Innovation Center, students and researchers will work with IBM Bob to experience how AI can accelerate every stage of the software lifecycle. By bringing enterprise software development closer to academia, we hope to equip the next generation of innovators to build AI applications that are scalable, trusted, and ready for real-world adoption.”
Beyond academic instruction, the center will serve as a continuous hub for collaborative research initiatives, industry engagement programs, student internships, technical hackathons, and innovation challenges.
