Scientists from IBM Research have launched Emergence India Labs (EIL) frontier agentic artficial intelligence (AI) company to accelerate the development of next-generation autonomous systems capable of operating mission-critical digital and physical infrastructure, and enabling the country to move beyond its traditional IT services model toward advanced manufacturing, logistics and industrial automation.
Explaining the genesis of the facility, EIL noted that India’s technology sector has been centred on IT services for more than two decades, but that the next chapter will be defined by building frontier autonomous systems that transform physical AI domains. These include areas such as manufacturing, logistics, ports, factories and essential infrastructure.
The founders note that AI adoption in Indian manufacturing has already surged, citing research showing that 65% of manufacturers had integrated AI in 2024, up from 45% in 2022 – and that the Indian AI-in-manufacturing market was projected to grow at roughly 40% annually, surpassing $8bn by 2030. EIL observed that with hundreds of thousands of new robots deployed in factories each year, and as technological power rebalances globally, India now has a strategic opportunity to position itself at the frontier of autonomous systems research.
To that end, EIL is envisioned not only as a research centre, but as the nucleus of a broader public-private partnership to ensure that India builds foundational AI technologies domestically rather than importing them. Unlike multinational R&D outposts that operate as satellite extensions of overseas global headquarters, EIL said that it has been conceived as a core, AI-native R&D epicentre that can anchor sovereign AI capability.
EIL sees the launch as also reflecting a broader global shift in AI, stating that the debate is no longer only about training the largest language models (LLMs), but about developing the autonomous systems layer that enables AI to operate safely and reliably in real-world environments.
“We believe the most immediate opportunity lies in building autonomous AI systems capable of operating the world’s most mission-critical digital infrastructure – from financial networks and telecom platforms to cloud and digital public systems. By mastering autonomy in the digital realm, we establish the foundation to extend into robotics, advanced manufacturing, and next-generation industrial infrastructure,” said Emergence co-founder and CEO Satya Nitta.
“For more than two decades, India’s technology sector has been anchored in IT services. The next chapter must be defined by building frontier autonomous systems that power critical infrastructure. The hardest problem in robotics isn’t movement – it’s thinking. By focusing on agentic systems, we are solving reasoning under uncertainty. Around the world, leading economies are embedding AI into physical systems at scale. India must participate fully in shaping that transformation.”
The facility is said to be backed by tens of millions of dollars in initial inward R&D investment, with “significant” long-term expansion planned with EIL projected to scale to 500 research scientists and engineers over the next three to four years. EIL will place particular emphasis on building a talent pipeline around LEAN as a grounding layer for AI agents, demonstrating how formal verification can be embedded at every level of autonomous decision-making.
It is located near the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) in Bengaluru, which EIL will collaborate closely with through joint research, exchanges, hackathons and summer schools to build a next-generation talent pipeline in autonomous systems.
“The convergence of formal proof systems and the explosive growth of artificial intelligence creates an unprecedented opportunity – and necessity – to build reliable, mathematically grounded autonomous systems,” said Siddhartha Gadgil, professor at the IISc and chief scientist at Emergence India Labs.
“Driven by a rich scientific tradition and a dynamic generation of engineers and entrepreneurs, India has the potential to drive this new frontier. By anchoring the entire spectrum of innovation here in Bangalore, from foundational research to real-world application, we will catalyse an ecosystem of sustained, world-class breakthroughs, ensuring India helps architect the future of intelligent systems.”
