Bengaluru, May 14: PanIIT Bangalore Summit 2026, presented by the Government of Karnataka and convened by Pan IIT Alumni India Association, will be inaugurated by Honourable Governor of Karnataka, Shri Thawar Chand Gehlot on May 16 at Taj Yeshwantpur, Bengaluru. Positioned as India’s flagship AI and deep–tech leadership summit, the event will bring together 2,000+ delegates, including 250+ founders, 120+ investors, and participants from across the global IIT ecosystem of 500,000+ alumni across 23 IITs.
The summit, under the theme “Sovereignty in Technology,” comes at a time when India’s position in the global innovation economy is under sharper scrutiny. The concept note says India produces nearly 16% of global AI talent but spends just 0.7% of GDP on R&D, creating a gap between the depth of its talent and its ownership of technology. It argues that while India continues to supply skilled engineers to the world’s leading technology powers, the country must now build stronger capabilities in foundational technologies, infrastructure, and scientific research.
Bengaluru, the host city, is central to that conversation. The concept note describes Karnataka and Bengaluru as the epicentre of India’s technology ambitions, citing the state’s position among India’s top GDP-contributing states and Bengaluru’s role as the country’s leading hub for venture capital investment. It traces the city’s technology journey through multiple waves, beginning with public-sector and strategic institutions such as HAL, NAL, BHEL and DRDO, followed by the rise of IT services leaders such as Infosys, TCS, HCL and Wipro, the consumer-tech wave, and the product and SaaS wave. The current phase, it says, is the fifth wave: deep technology, artificial intelligence and scientific innovation.
The summit has been designed as a platform for execution rather than discussion alone. According to the materials, the programme will include high-level plenaries, deep-dive panels and parallel tracks across AI, defence, semiconductors, energy, mobility and healthcare. A curated pitch-a-thon will connect high-potential startups with 200+ venture capitalists, while 10,000+ participants of hackathon will tackle real-world challenges sourced directly from the Government of Karnataka, with the best solutions considered for real deployment at scale in the state.
The speaker lineup brings together leaders from government, science, business and the startup ecosystem. Confirmed participants include Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, Dr. V. Anantha Nageswaran, Chief Economic Advisor to the Government of India, Dr. Shalini Rajneesh, Chief Secretary, Government of Karnataka, Shivkumar Kalyanaraman, CEO of ANRF and former CEO of India AI Mission, Venkat Padmanabhan of Microsoft Research India, Irina Ghose of Anthropic India, Vidit Aatrey of Meesho, Harsh Jain of Groww, Tarun Mehta of Ather Energy, Phani Kishan Addepalli of Swiggy, Pawan Kumar Chandana of Skyroot Aerospace, and Bharat Goenka of Tally Solutions.
The Government of Bihar will be sending two MLAs to participate in this mega event. Shri Ruhail Ranjan, MLA, Bihar, a technocrat and social worker, said that the Government of Bihar would like to host a similar event in the future to showcase the state’s development and opportunities.
Mr Prabhat Kumar, Chairman (IRS), Pan IIT Alumni Association, said, “The future global economy will be shaped by nations that control AI capability, compute infrastructure, and deep–tech ecosystems. India cannot remain only a consumer of global technology. It must become a producer of globally influential innovation.”
General Secretary Mr. Ashok Kumar said, “The countries that will lead the next global economic cycle will be those that convert research into execution. India has the demographic advantage, entrepreneurial energy, and technological capability. What we need now is stronger collaboration between industry, research, startups, and policy.”
Summit Chair Neeraj Kumar said, “Bengaluru showed the world that Indian talent can build globally respected technology enterprises. This summit aims to deepen that momentum by creating partnerships that move beyond discussion into investment, deployment, and long-term innovation.”
Pan IIT Alumni India is the national federation representing over 500,000 IIT graduates across 23 IITs, with a global presence in 27 countries. Established in 2002, it has evolved into a nation‑building institution, linking talent with government, industry, and academia. Through the Pan Pre-eventIIT Alumni Foundation, it has built one of India’s largest vocational and livelihood education networks in partnership with the Ministry of Rural Development and KVIC. Aligned with the Viksit Bharat Abhiyan, PanIIT drives initiatives in AI, sustainability, entrepreneurship, and skill development, positioning IIT alumni as a strategic resource for India’s innovation decade.