Emergence sets up Bengaluru lab for autonomous AI R&D
Emergence, a New York-based AI company founded by three former IBM Research scientists, has launched Emergence India Labs in Bengaluru, a new R&D centre focused on autonomous AI agents.
The lab will receive tens of millions of dollars in initial inward R&D investment and is expected to scale to 500 research scientists and engineers over the next three to four years.
Emergence described the site as a long-term research base in India rather than a satellite of an overseas headquarters, and framed the move as part of a broader shift in the country's technology sector beyond IT services and outsourcing.
Bengaluru base
The facility sits near the Indian Institute of Science, a key partner in Emergence's local ecosystem. Plans include joint research, exchanges, hackathons and summer schools.
Professor Siddhartha Gadgil of the Indian Institute of Science has joined as Chief Scientist while retaining his academic affiliation. Emergence said the appointment would link the lab to academic work on formal methods and other foundational research relevant to autonomous systems.
The lab will focus on "autonomous AI agents" and "autonomous systems" for digital and physical environments, with applications in manufacturing, logistics, ports and factories, as well as what Emergence described as essential infrastructure.
Emergence also cited AI adoption data for manufacturing in India, saying 65% of manufacturers had integrated AI by 2024, up from 45% in 2022. It also cited projections that the domestic AI-in-manufacturing market will grow at roughly 40% annually and surpass USD 8 billion by 2030.
Wider context
Emergence positioned the announcement against international trends in research output and industrial automation. It referenced the Nature Index 2025 Research Leaders report, saying Chinese universities held nine of the top 10 global research positions in natural sciences.
It also cited figures showing China accounted for roughly 54% of industrial robot installations worldwide in 2024, with hundreds of thousands of robots deployed in factories each year. Emergence argued this creates a strategic opening for India in autonomous systems research as industrial capabilities and scientific influence shift globally.
The lab's remit reflects an evolving debate in AI over how to build systems that operate reliably in real-world settings. Emergence said attention is shifting from training large language models to building an "autonomous systems layer" for safe and reliable operation.
Satya Nitta, Emergence's co-founder and CEO, said the company will start with digital infrastructure before expanding into robotics and industrial environments.
"We believe the most immediate opportunity lies in building autonomous AI systems capable of operating the world's most mission-critical digital infrastructure - from financial networks and telecom platforms to cloud and digital public systems," Nitta said.
"By mastering autonomy in the digital realm, we establish the foundation to extend into robotics, advanced manufacturing, and next-generation industrial infrastructure," he added.
Research agenda
Emergence said Emergence India Labs will emphasise "LEAN as a grounding layer for AI agents" and the use of formal verification in autonomous decision-making, embedding mathematical checks across different layers of an autonomous system.
Gadgil said the convergence of formal proof systems and rapid progress in AI creates both an opportunity and a necessity to build reliable, mathematically grounded autonomous systems.
Emergence said the lab will be led locally by Dr Prasenjit Dey, and named Dr Ravi Kokku and Gadgil among its internationally recognised scientists. Dey's background includes EPFL and IIT Delhi, while Kokku studied at UT Austin and IIT Kharagpur, according to the company.
Beyond in-house research, Emergence expects the lab to play a broader ecosystem role through work with start-ups, collaboration with academia and government, and research publications in venues including NeurIPS, ICML and ICLR.
Nitta said success will be judged partly by whether more frontier research programmes choose to base themselves in India.
"Ultimately, our success will be defined by whether Emergence India Labs helps anchor more frontier R&D in India - making the country a primary home for breakthrough innovation and enabling world-class talent to build and lead from here," Nitta said.