Bengaluru, 16 Feb

Karnataka IT Minister Priyank Kharge on Monday met Kanishka Narayan, UK Minister for AI and Digital Government here and proposed the creation of a formal Karnataka–UK Innovation Bridge to deepen startup and ecosystem linkages between the two regions, officials said.

In a significant step towards strengthening India–UK technology ties, the two Ministers held wide-ranging discussions on Artificial Intelligence, online safety, digital public infrastructure, data governance, skilling, startup ecosystems, and cross-border innovation partnerships, they said.

According to official statement, a key outcome of the meeting was the proposal to strengthen the India–UK partnership through a more structured, institutional collaboration mechanism.

"We envision a formal innovation bridge between Karnataka and the UK as part of a broader global innovation network—where startups, researchers, and enterprises from both sides can collaborate, access markets, and scale globally. A strong base in either Bengaluru or London can serve as a powerful launchpad for international growth,” Kharge said.

The proposed areas of collaboration include joint co-working and incubation spaces for UK and Karnataka startups, annual bilateral startup exchange programs, collaboration between Centers of Excellence in priority AI sectors and accelerated market access support for startups in both ecosystems, it stated.

Minister Narayan welcomed the proposal and said the UK’s strong interest in structured, sector-specific collaboration, particularly in AI for science, curated national datasets, and advanced compute infrastructure.

Commenting on the collaboration, UK Minister Narayan, said, "Bengaluru is the beating heart of India’s technology ecosystem, and that is precisely why I am here—to meet the Minister and explore deeper collaboration with Karnataka. The UK and India share not just a deep economic and technology partnership, but also common values. As we build AI ecosystems, we must ensure they are responsible, safe and aligned with those values."

"We are investing in compute infrastructure, sovereign capabilities across the AI stack, and driving adoption across public services and industry. At the same time, we are actively consulting on online safety measures to protect young people and ensure AI benefits society as a whole. Deeper collaboration with Karnataka can help shape globally relevant, trusted AI systems,” he added.

The meeting builds upon recent high-level engagements between the Prime Minister of India and the UK and ongoing discussions on trade and technology partnerships, the statement said.

Both sides agreed to continue discussions at the upcoming AI summit in New Delhi and to identify priority areas for early implementation, it added.