AIM, Bhashini Partner to Democratize Innovation Through Language Inclusion

India is home to 22 official languages and hundreds of dialects, making linguistic inclusivity a national imperative in governance, digital access, and economic opportunity.

In a landmark step toward breaking linguistic barriers in India's innovation landscape, the Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) of NITI Aayog and the Digital India Bhashini Division (DIBD) under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) have signed a Statement of Intent (SoI) to collaborate on fostering language inclusivity and vernacular innovation across the country. The agreement was formalized today in New Delhi, marking a new phase of cooperation between two of India’s most forward-looking public sector initiatives.

The signing ceremony was attended by Deepak Bagla, Mission Director, Atal Innovation Mission, and Amitabh Nag, CEO, Digital India Bhashini Division. The meeting focused on unlocking multilingual access to entrepreneurship tools, digital content, and innovation infrastructure to empower Indians across linguistic and regional boundaries.

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Unlocking Innovation in Every Language

India is home to 22 official languages and hundreds of dialects, making linguistic inclusivity a national imperative in governance, digital access, and economic opportunity. The AIM-Bhashini partnership is rooted in the belief that innovation must not be limited by language, and that the next wave of entrepreneurs and changemakers must be able to learn, innovate, and collaborate in the language they are most comfortable with.

“This collaboration supports our broader goal of fostering inclusive innovation. By integrating language technologies with AIM’s initiatives, we are taking a practical step toward ensuring accessibility and opportunity for innovators across India, regardless of language,” said Deepak Bagla, Mission Director, AIM.

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WIPO Learning Content to Go Multilingual

As an immediate outcome of the SoI, learning content developed by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Academy—used widely to build knowledge around intellectual property rights (IPR)—will be translated into multiple Indian languages using Bhashini’s advanced AI-powered translation tools. This initiative is part of an ongoing collaborative agreement between AIM, NITI Aayog, and WIPO.

This step will dramatically expand the reach of high-quality IPR education and equip grassroots innovators, entrepreneurs, and students with the tools they need to understand and leverage intellectual property—in their own language.

The partners are also exploring future opportunities to gamify this learning content, making it more engaging and accessible through interactive formats and vernacular delivery mechanisms.

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Empowering Startups Through Multilingual Tools

Under the agreement, startups, innovators, and entrepreneurs in the AIM ecosystem will gain access to Bhashini’s sandbox environments, enabling them to develop, test, and deploy multilingual digital solutions. This is particularly significant for digital services in healthcare, fintech, education, agritech, and other sectors where regional users form a massive share of the target audience.

The AIM ecosystem, which includes Atal Incubation Centres (AICs) and Atal Community Innovation Centres (ACICs), will begin integrating Bhashini’s language platforms into their capacity-building and skilling programs, particularly in underserved rural and semi-urban areas.

A key component of this initiative will be the development of Language Inclusive Program for Innovation (LIPI) Centres, which will serve as vernacular-friendly innovation hubs supporting community-led problem solving and entrepreneurship.

“Language should never be a barrier to innovation,” said Amitabh Nag, CEO of Bhashini. “Our tools are designed to empower every Indian innovator—regardless of linguistic background—with the ability to participate fully in the digital and entrepreneurial revolution.”

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Bhashini: India's Language Technology Engine

Launched under the Digital India programme, Bhashini is India’s flagship initiative to enable digital services and content in all Indian languages using AI and Natural Language Processing (NLP). The platform provides access to:

• Real-time speech-to-text and text-to-speech APIs

• Language translation tools

• Voice recognition and synthesis capabilities

• Multilingual chatbot platforms

• Sandbox environments for developers

By collaborating with Bhashini, AIM hopes to embed scalable and interoperable language solutions into innovation ecosystems across the country, ensuring that entrepreneurs and users are not restricted to English or Hindi when navigating digital spaces.

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Building a Vernacular-First Innovation Ecosystem

The partnership reflects the government's broader commitment to Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) and aligns with the vision of inclusive development under Viksit Bharat @2047. It also signals a strong policy direction toward leveraging AI, open-source infrastructure, and language diversity to build a truly bottom-up innovation culture.

Together, AIM and Bhashini will identify use cases, pilot projects, and joint awareness campaigns to mainstream the use of language technologies in entrepreneurship and public innovation efforts.

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The Road Ahead

In the coming months, both institutions are expected to release:

• A multilingual innovation curriculum

• Online and offline vernacular workshops for innovators

• A roadmap for expanding LIPI centres in tier-2 and tier-3 cities

• Collaborative techathons and incubation challenges focused on language innovation

This strategic partnership marks a decisive move towards a vernacular-first, inclusive innovation ecosystem, ensuring that no Indian innovator is left behind because of the language they speak.