Bengaluru: Karnataka is gearing up for a decade of AI-driven growth with two landmark initiatives: District Skill Groups and the Karnataka Strategic & Intelligence Unit, a first-of-its-kind AI-powered skills intelligence backbone for the state. The announcement was made by Sanjeev Kumar Gupta, CEO, Karnataka Digital Economy Mission (KDEM), during the Quest 2 Learn Summit 2025, hosted by Quest Alliance, under the theme “Beyond the AI Hype: Building Radical Futures of Hope with Young People.”
The summit brought together nearly 300 participants, including educators, policymakers, technologists, artists, researchers, civil society leaders, and young people, to explore the transformative potential of AI in education and skilling.
“Each district will soon establish a District Skill Group, chaired by the District Collector and comprising industry, academia, students, and entrepreneurs. These groups will design one-year, district-specific skill development plans aligned with local economic needs,” Gupta explained.
Simultaneously, the state’s six regional clusters outside Bengaluru are being strengthened with multi-stakeholder vision documents, created after consultations with educational institutions, incubators, accelerators, and student communities. These documents outline each cluster’s roadmap through 2031–32, ensuring that skilling aligns with long-term economic priorities.
The Karnataka Strategic & Intelligence Unit will integrate data from universities, colleges, training institutions, and government databases. An AI-powered layer will process this unified dataset to identify emerging opportunities, sectoral gaps, and regional workforce needs. “A small committee of industry leaders has guided the initiative, with the unit expected to go live within the next three to four months,” Gupta added.
Gupta highlighted the changing geography of work in Karnataka, noting, “Karnataka’s youth are saying, ‘I am not going to move from my place. I will serve from where I am.’ Companies are now going where the talent is.” He cited the ‘Come Back Tiger’ initiative in Mangalore, which registered 3,000 tech professionals in under 48 hours, with 250 companies seeking local talent. Cities like Hubli now host more than 3,000 AI professionals serving clients in the US and Europe, reflecting the decentralization of innovation from Bengaluru.
Karnataka attracts 200,000 young professionals annually and is home to 600,000 AI-skilled workers, over 2,000 AI startups, and 53 of India’s 110 unicorns, collectively raising $2 billion last year. Gupta emphasized, “If the innovation ecosystem is not strong, companies cannot grow. We are pursuing a model of co-create, collaborate, and co-innovate — anyone with an idea can walk in and find mentors across industry and academia.”
The state is also developing cutting-edge infrastructure to enable this AI momentum, including a world-class AI & Robotics Centre of Excellence and KEO, a personalized AI computer designed to put AI compute power into the hands of every learner.
The panel at Quest 2 Learn also featured D. Madhavi Latha, Faculty, SAMO Wing, Samagra Shiksha, Andhra Pradesh, who highlighted how the Personalised Adaptive Learning (PAL) programme and Atal Tinkering Labs are transforming learning outcomes through adaptive content and student-led innovation. Kaberi Muduli, Officer on Special Duty, Panchasakha Sikhya Setu Sangathan, Govt of Odisha, discussed Odisha’s 14-chapter AI curriculum for Class 10 and tools like Khanmigo, which strengthen critical thinking and AI-enabled, local-language learning. The panel was moderated by Manoj Kothari, CEO and Chief Strategist, Turian Labs.
Aakash Sethi, CEO of Quest Alliance, which collaborates with governments to equip young people with future-ready skills, said, “We embed future skills and career exploration into school curricula and pedagogy, while also preparing students from Technical and Vocational Skilling Institutes to become confident, informed, and career-ready. This enables a seamless transition into the workforce in the AI era.”
Through these initiatives, Karnataka aims to align education, industry, and talent for a district-level workforce revolution, positioning the state as a national leader in AI-powered skill development.
