TOI Uttarakhand Transformation Dialogue 2026: How AI-led strategies can shape state’s infra and education growth

The UK Transformation Dialogues 2026, conducted by The Times of India in Dehradun, spotlighted artificial intelligence's role in infrastructure expansion and education reform as key pillars of Uttarakhand’s next phase of growth.

The panel discussion on “Building the Growth Engine: Infrastructure, Education & AI-Led Investment” brought together Mayank, Founder, CEO & Managing Director of ADROSONIC; Shikhar Saxena, Additional Director, Department of Industries, Government of Uttarakhand; and Prof Dr Sachin Ghai of Graphic Era University to deliberate on how the state can leverage technology and partnerships to drive sector-led development.

The UK Transformation Dialogues 2026 is designed as a strategic platform to examine Uttarakhand’s shift from terrain-bound limitations to sector-driven growth. The forum convenes policymakers, industry leaders and domain experts to explore progress across infrastructure, education, tourism, healthcare, women empowerment and grassroots enterprise, with a focus on sustainable and inclusive development.

AI's five layers

Detailing the structural framework of artificial intelligence, ADROSONIC founder Mayank said AI must be understood beyond just end-user applications.

He outlined five layers of AI — infrastructure (chips and computing power), data quality, models (the “brain” of AI where companies such as OpenAI operate), orchestration (enabling multiple actions from a single query), and applications, where users interact directly with AI systems.

“If your data quality is not good, you can’t have AI on top of it. If we feed it wrong data, AI will always give a wrong response,” he said, stressing that data quality is very important for accurate outcome.

Highlighting Uttarakhand’s talent pool, he said nurturing skilled professionals and building smaller innovation hubs could enable the state to offer AI-driven services globally despite geographical constraints.

“We have an enormous amount of talent. If we nurture this talent and build small hubs, we can provide services anywhere in the world using the power of AI — and that itself will fuel the growth of the entire state,” he said.

He further suggested that if private institutions and the government join hands, they can share their respective challenges, enabling universities to undertake research and then organisations aid in arriving at practical solutions.

However, he cautioned that technology must be applied meaningfully. “No matter how cool a technology is, until you find how it’s going to be applied, it’s of no use.”

He also explained significance of tech saying with relations to businesses saying, "Technology is for the business, business is not for the technology."

Government approach to AI adoption

The additional director, department of industries, Uttarakhand government, Shikhar Saxena acknowledged that governments have historically been slow in adopting new technologies, citing delayed use of computers and specialised software in earlier decades; but are now moving faster.

“Whenever some new technology comes, government is usually the last to use it,” he said. However he noted the relatively faster speed recently, as in 2015 many processes were still offline, though they now been digitised.

While the Uttarakhand government is not yet fully deploying AI across departments, he said the state intends to move faster this time. Referring to the launch of the Uttarakhand AI Mission on November 26, Saxena said the government aims to take a "first-mover advantage".

For infrastructure bodies such as the Uttarakhand Infrastructure and Industrial Development Board (UIIDB), AI adoption is expected to be more proactive, he added.

“Saxena further highlighted a key problem in govts which he belives can be solved by AI. "Understaffing is a chronic problem in almost all government departments. AI can help solve this problem, and that’s why we are focusing a lot on it,” he said.

Education as the long-term lever

Graphic Era University professor Dr Sachin Ghai emphasised talked about technology-led growth through changes in curriculum and institutional thinking.

Recalling that one of Uttarakhand’s earlier challenges was the outmigration of students seeking higher education outside the state, he said expanding quality institutions within Uttarakhand was a crucial step.

Talking about one aspect he said, “We recognised the importance of participation of all stakeholders,”, adding that education should “always enlighten and empower.”

Investment in infrastructure, he stressed, must be matched by investment in people and partnerships, with academia, industry and government working together to build a resilient growth engine for the state.

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