Lucknow, Feb. 23 -- Chief minister Yogi Adityanath inaugurated the IBM Al GovTech Innovation Centre in Lucknow on Sunday. It will serve as a collaborative platform to design, validate and scale AI solutions that enhance productivity, transparency and service delivery, with models built for replication and broader adoption. Addressing the event, Adityanath said, "Yesterday, the foundation stone for the state's first semiconductor unit was laid in Gautam Buddha Nagar district. Last year, I visited IIT Kanpur and attended a deep tech seminar there. We have made budgetary provision for a Centre of Excellence in Robotics at IIT Kanpur. Earlier, we had budgetary provision for a Center of Excellence in Drone Technology." "Uttar Pradesh has a strong claim, as IBM contributed to the installation of the country's first computer in Kanpur. Money is not a big deal for us, it doesn't matter. We worked with IIT Kanpur for medtech. Currently, seven Centres of Excellence in various fields are operating in Uttar Pradesh, and they are doing good work. SGPGI is doing good work in the health sector in Lucknow, and IIT Kanpur is doing good work," he added. "I believe IIT Kanpur is ready to collaborate with the Noida campus to build a building for IBM for quantum computing. The Uttar Pradesh government is ready to take the initiative and co-operate. If all three work together, the quantum computing programme will start in Uttar Pradesh and be successful in the field of deep tech," he stated. Adityanath inaugurated the centre in the presence of Arvind Krishna, IBM chairman, president and chief executive officer; Sandip Patel, managing director, IBM India & South Asia, along with Professor Manindra Agrawal, director, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur and other dignitaries from the Government of Uttar Pradesh and IBM. "AI will define the next era of government effectiveness and economic competitiveness. Around the world, and especially in India, we are seeing governments move decisively from exploration to execution. It is encouraging to see this level of openness to responsible AI adoption," said Arvind Krishna. "The Lucknow centre brings together IBM's global AI leadership and a strong local talent ecosystem, with proximity to leading engineering and academic institutions. Together, this enables us to translate AI ambition into measurable public impact," he added. At the event, IBM signed two Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) with the Uttar Pradesh government to accelerate Al-led governance initiatives aligned with its long-term development vision. The collaboration with the department of IT and electronics will focus on developing high-impact Al use cases through the centre while strengthening digital and Al readiness across departments Working with the directorate of school education, IBM will introduce an Al Literacy programme for students in grades 6 to 12 and their teachers, equipping them with foundational knowledge to build future-ready skills. IBM's Lucknow campus also houses a Software Lab contributing to IBM's global software portfolio and an IBM Consulting FutureNow Centre enabling regional talent to deliver transformative projects....