2026-02-13 –, Opening, Keynotes, Closing: Floor8 Terrace
India is redefining the global AI landscape by treating artificial intelligence not just as a technology, but as a sovereign Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI). This keynote explores India’s unique strategy: democratizing access to compute, data, and models to ensure AI serves the public good, mirroring the transformative success of UPI and Aadhaar. We will examine this "full-stack" approach through two critical lenses.
First, we discuss leveraging global open-source innovation. By adopting open standards and models, India is building a transparent, secure AI infrastructure that avoids vendor lock-in and fosters global collaboration while maintaining strategic autonomy.
Second, we focus on local talent. With the world's fastest-growing developer community, the mission is to pivot from consumption to creation—building "sovereign" Indian language models and high-impact applications for diverse sectors like healthcare and agriculture.
However, scaling this vision faces challenges in compute availability, high-quality datasets, and the need for deep-tech skills. As we approach the India AI Impact Summit, this session issues a direct call to action for engineers: help transition India from an AI adopter to an AI shaper. Join us to discover how open collaboration and local innovation can build a self-reliant, inclusive AI future.
Vincent Caldeira, Red Hat APAC CTO and Industry Visiting Scholar at Columbia University, drives tech strategy and emerging engineering. A Top 10 APAC CTO (2023) with 20+ years in finance IT, he is an authority on open source, cloud-native technologies and AI. Vincent holds leadership roles across the Linux Foundation (FINOS, LF AI & Data) and GSF, championing AI safety, sustainability, and digital sovereignty.