The UK–India Industry–Academia Technology Dialogue was organised by the post on 8 September 2026 at Shoosmiths, Birmingham, bringing together leading Indian technology companies and universities across the Midlands. The Dialogue was the outcome of sustained engagement and consultations undertaken by the Consulate with leading Universities and industry representatives over several months. A series of individual meetings and one-to-one discussions were held with universities and Indian technology companies to identify areas of mutual interest, understand industry requirements, explore opportunities for collaboration and consider ways of formalising a dedicated platform for sustained industry–academia engagement in the Midlands.

2. The event was attended by senior executives from the companies and senior academicians from the Universities. The high level participation reflected the depth and diversity of the Midlands’ academic and industrial ecosystem. The Midlands is home to a larger Indian companies, including the Tata Group, Infosys, TVS Motor Company, Mahindra & Mahindra, Wipro, Mahindra Tech. The strong presence of companies such as Jaguar Land Rover, Tata Technologies, Hexaware, Mastek and Infosys further demonstrates the Midlands’ importance as a centre for advanced manufacturing, automotive engineering, technology and digital innovation. The Indian Technological companies do their primary operations in the UK while outsourcing subsidising oprations in India. Their expansion in the UK automatically leads to multiplier effect on their operations in India. In that direction, they can explore the possibilities of absorbing talent pools coming out of the British Universities, particularly focussing on Indian students. This discussion focussed two of the five important pillars namely Technology and Education that drive our relation for future as per the vision statement 2035. The discussions also aligned with the wider India–UK technology engagement agenda and follow up on the High Commission of India’s earlier initiative, “Beyond the New Delhi AI Summit: India & the UK Shaping the AI Age,” convened in London in March 2026.

3 The morning dialogue was structured around four thematic panel discussions, with each panel comprising two academic representatives and two industry leaders, enabling a balanced exchange of perspectives. The themes are mentioned below:

• (i) AI & enterprise transformation - Responsible and applied digital innovation

  (ii) Mobility & Advanced manufacturing - Connecting research capability with industrial delivery

  (iii) Health, Software & Cloud - Applying computing, data and transformation to health and enterprise

  (iv) Intelligent Systems & Engineering - From neuromorphic computing to Industry 4.0 and future skills

4. The Dialogue witnessed participation from senior representatives of leading Midlands universities and prominent Indian technology and engineering companies. The distinguished panel members were as mentioned below:

Indian Industry Leads:

(i) Tata Technologies	Priyesh Veedu – Senior Vice President & Global Head of ESS Core Delivery
(ii) Infosys	Yogesh Rathore – Head of Delivery, UK & Ireland
(iii) Hexaware Technologies	Debabrata Dey – Vice President
(iv) Tech Mahindra Company	Daksh Kapoor – Head of BID
(v) Wipro UK & Ireland	Kiran Shetty – Vice President & Sector Head for Consumer and Health
(vi)Tata Consultancy Services (TCS)	Sudeep Mazumdar – Vice President & Business Unit Head – Manufacturing UK & Ireland
(vii) Mastek	Deepa Nair – Head of Talent Acquisition – UK & Europe

Academic Leads – Leading Midlands Universities:

(i) University of Wolverhampton	Professor Prashant Pillai MBE – Pro Vice-Chancellor for Research & Knowledge Exchange
(ii) University of Birmingham	Dr Phillip Smith – Head of Education, School of Computer Science
(iii) University of Warwick	Professor Dyrr Ardash – Director of Business Development
(iv) University of Leicester	Professor Rajeev Raman – Professor of Computer Science & Director of Research for Computing
(v) University of Derby	Professor Ovidiu Bagdasar – Professor of Mathematics, School of Computing
(vi) Aston University	Professor Damien Foster – Head of Department
(vii) Birmingham City University	Professor Hanifa Shah OBE – Pro Vice-Chancellor – Research, Enterprise, Engagement & STEAM

Outcome of the dialogues:

1. The Dialogue resulted in a strong consensus on the need for continued, structured and outcome-oriented engagement between industry and academia to create mutually beneficial opportunities for innovation, research, specialised skilling and talent development.

2. Both sides recognised the importance of ensuring that university curricula, research priorities and skills programmes remain responsive to the evolving requirements of industry. Industry representatives highlighted the need for specialised skills and continuous upgradation of knowledge, while academic representatives emphasised the value of greater industry interaction in shaping education, research and training for future generations.

3. The discussions identified significant potential for collaborative research, knowledge exchange, industry-linked curriculum development, specialised training, internships, talent development and joint innovation projects.

4. It explored the possibilities of strengthening Global Young Talent visa between two countries.

The event therefore represented an important milestone in the Consulate General’s efforts to strengthen India–UK industry–academia linkages in the Midlands, building on months of engagement and one-to-one consultations, and creating a platform that can contribute to deeper bilateral cooperation in technology, innovation, skills and the digital economy.