FWD 2026 highlights an AI-native approach to workforce development, a new IIMBx partnership, and growing campus adoption across Karnataka.
BENGALURU, October 15, 2026 — Coursera (NYSE: COUR), a leading global online learning platform, today showcased Project Helix—a new AI-native skills platform—at FWD 2026 in Bengaluru. Centered on the theme “Human Skills. AI Scale.”, the flagship event brought together leaders from government, higher education, and industry to explore how organizations can translate AI investments into practical workforce capability.
Built from the ground up, Project Helix connects strategic business priorities with personalized learning, hands-on practice, and verified skill achievements. The platform allows organizational leaders and individual learners to describe goals in natural language, automatically generating adaptive learning paths. By integrating skill-building directly into everyday workflows and enabling employees to demonstrate proficiency through practice and assessments, Project Helix helps organizations align workforce development with measurable business outcomes.
Project Helix is expected to become broadly available to enterprise customers in the first half of 2027.
“Access to AI tools is growing rapidly, but the ability to use them effectively depends on people’s skills, confidence, and judgment,” said Ashutosh Gupta, Managing Director, India and Asia Pacific at Coursera. “Project Helix aims to help organizations integrate learning into everyday workflows, validate skills with confidence, and turn workforce data into action.”
Expanding Management Education via IIMBx Strategic Partnership
To further support lifelong learning, Coursera announced a new partnership with the IIMBx Digital Learning Foundation of the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore (IIMB). Over the coming months, IIMBx plans to launch new programs on Coursera spanning key business disciplines, including:
- Business strategy and entrepreneurship
- Data-driven decision-making and fintech
- Communication, digital marketing, and public policy
“Great management education should reach people wherever they are in their careers and wherever they live,” stated Sitaraman Shankar, Chief Executive Officer, IIMBx Digital Learning Foundation. “Through Coursera, we look forward to sharing IIM Bangalore’s expertise with a wider global audience and helping learners build skills they can apply to the decisions and challenges they face at work.”
Driving AI Skill Adoption Across Karnataka
The collaboration builds on surging demand for digital and management skills across Karnataka. Home to 4.3 million Coursera learners—the third-largest learner base among Indian states—Karnataka sees a Generative AI (GenAI) course enrollment approximately every two minutes, accumulating over 750,000 GenAI enrollments to date. Leading areas of study include GenAI, data analysis, machine learning, and prompt engineering.
To align higher education with industry needs, Coursera continues to expand its Coursera for Campus footprint. Partner institutions across regional education hubs include Alliance University, REVA University, RV University, Christ University, and the National Institute of Engineering in Mysuru, among others. These partnerships integrate practical AI and digital learning directly into academic degree programs, bridging the gap between higher education and employer demands.
