India can lead global innovation in AI, energy intelligence: Schneider Electric CEO

India is entering a new phase where it can lead global innovation, especially in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and energy intelligence, Olivier Blum, chief executive officer of Schneider Electric, said on Thursday. With strong support from the Government and industry, India has the potential to be at the centre of the next technological transformation, he said while speaking at the AI Impact Summit.

As he puts it, “If you can crack the code in India, you can succeed anywhere in the world”. The country offers a combination of cost efficiency, innovation and engineering talent, making it a key hub for the global AI revolution, the CEO said. “We are starting a new phase of the planet, a new technology revolution, which is called AI, where India can be the place where a lot of innovation starts with.

I think we are at the point of time, where India can innovate the next technology that will make the world more efficient,” he said. With strong capabilities in power, automation, and digital technologies, the country has the ingredients to solve complex global challenges, Blum said.

“The level of innovation I know in India, some people also say ‘jugaad’ in India. But the level of creativity that you can have in India, yet new system that will solve the most complex problem of the planet can be done in this country. And when you look at the number of engineers you have in power, automation, digital, you have all the ingredients which are together at a point in time where we need to make AI, a big transformation for the planet,” he said.

For Schneider Electric, India is not just another market; it is the third-largest globally, the largest in terms of employees (40,000) and home to its biggest R&D centre with 8,000 engineers, he added. Blum highlighted how AI and energy are becoming interconnected across industries.

“So in terms of electrification that you need for the planet. It’s not about making usage more electrical and supporting the electrification of the planet, for cars, for heat pumps, for electrification of process. What bring AI on top of that, it’s another level of pressure on the energy system...AI means more compute. More compute means more energy,” he said. Olivier Blum, chief executive officer of Schneider Electric.