India AI Impact Summit 2026: From global exchange to Indo-German AI Pact

Following the AI Safety Summit 2023, the AI Seoul Summit 2024 and the AI Action Summit 2025, the AI Impact Summit provided a platform to discuss global AI governance.

On 16 February, the Secretariat for Indo-German Digital Dialogue participated in an official side event – a panel discussion hosted by the Data Innovation Lab and the Federal Foreign Office of Germany. It provided thought-provoking use cases of data-driven foresight in Indian data policy.

Exploring high-impact business opportunities

On 18 February 2026, a high-level roundtable on Indo-German AI business opportunities brought together C-suite leaders from German and Indian technology companies. The roundtable was hosted by Federal Minister Dr Karsten Wildberger of BMDS.

The exchange focused on strengthening business-to-business partnerships by identifying AI development and deployment verticals with the highest economic potential. The experts mapped existing partnerships and explored how to further leverage them. The constructive discussion showed how Germany’s strong industrial base and Mittelstand can complement India’s robust IT and AI services sector, and how this can generate economic gains for both countries.

Beyond the summit: Indo-German AI Pact shapes future collaboration

On 19 February, at the German Pavilion, key players such as Fraunhofer, NRW and Infineon showcased their work and how future cooperation will both deepen and broaden. The Secretariat for the International Digital Dialogues also presented their work in India and other partner countries, and welcomed partners at their booth – such as the Data Innovation Lab, aapti Institute and Pranava Institute.

So, what stays after this week? There is a new and strong momentum for Indo-German cooperation, ranging from AI governance to the joint development and deployment of AI technologies in B2B settings. All this was summarised within the Indo-German AI Pact – announced during the summit by Federal Minister Wildberger. The next months will focus on its implementation with key industry players.