First Overseas Atal Innovation Centre in Abu Dhabi India opened

In a historic move in the global innovation process, India opened its first foreign Atal Innovation Centre (AIC) in the IIT Delhi-Abu Dhabi campus in September 2025. The introduction by the Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, as he visited the United Arab Emirates (UAE), is indicative of the efforts by India to broaden its education relationships, enhance entrepreneurship, and encourage international innovation relationships.

Atal Innovation Centre in Abu Dhabi

The centre has been opened under the AIM, which is the first venture of AIM outside India. It is designed to serve as a research, entrepreneurship, and knowledge sharing institution, uniting Indian and Emirati institutions in order to reinforce the global innovation network. Through fostering partnerships, the centre aims at encouraging start-ups, assisting research in strategic spheres and fostering academic cross-border partnerships.

Academic Programmes are started.

Along with the opening of the centre, two academic programmes were implemented:

• Ph.D. in Energy and Sustainability - renewable energy, green technologies, and climate solutions.
• B.Tech in Chemical engineering- prepares professionals to work in the industry and research.

Such programmes will equip students with the necessary skills to provide innovative solutions to the current global challenges, not to mention the excellence in academics.

Enhancing Bi-lateral Cooperation.

Minister Pradhan also met with Sara Musallam who chairs the Abu Dhabi department of education and Knowledge (ADEK). The Indian curriculum expansion in the UAE to cater to the diaspora, the establishment of Atal Innovation Labs in the Indian schools in foreign countries and the development of teacher-student exchange programmes were discussed. The two parties also investigated in curriculum development and acknowledgment of academic qualifications in order to enhance collaboration in education.

Alignment with NEP 2020

The initiative is in line with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 of India which places emphasis on innovation, internationalisation, and skills. It points out the Indian drive towards education reforms and how it contributes to making the world a global knowledge-based economy.

Enlarged Educational Presence.

The visit was also the first anniversary of the campus in Dubai of Symbiosis University, an indication of the increasing presence of Indian institutions of higher education in the Gulf. Such programs do not only enhance cultural and educational connections, but also offer good academic programs to Indian and foreign students.

The Abu Dhabi AIC is a breakthrough in the Indian quest to globalise innovation and education, and promote bilateral relationships as well as global academic cooperation.