Shaping the AI Sandbox Ecosystem for the Intelligent Age 2025

To translate this vision into actionable outcomes, a strategic framework has been developed through extensive stakeholder consultations, global benchmarking and the deliberations of the AI for India 2030 Expert Group. The framework responds to India’s unique opportunity and challenge – to lead in AI innovation while ensuring responsible governance. The framework reflects a dual imperative: –Promote innovation by providing start-ups, researchers and institutions with access to critical infrastructure, datasets and safe testing environments. –Embed safeguards through effective governance, regulatory alignment and risk- management protocols to ensure that AI development is responsible, ethical and aligned with societal values. The framework is structured across five interdependent layers of the AI ecosystem: Governance, Innovation, Models, Data and Infrastructure. Each layer identifies a set of enablers – to support experimentation and growth – and guardrails – to ensure compliance, security and trustworthiness.4.2 Strategic framework: Guiding principles and structure Strategic framework for AI sandboxes FIGURE 2 Source: World Economic Forum analysis01 05040302Enablers1. Gover nance layer — Multistakeholder gover nance boar ds — Clear eligibility and access pr otocols — Integration with policy and r egulatory sandbox Guar drails — Responsible AI risk management frameworks (e.g. NIST RMF) — Legal and ethical oversight mechanisms — Grievance r edressal and audit mechanisms Enablers4. Data layer — Access to multilingual, labelled, AI-r eady datasets — Federated or anonymized data-sharing models — Data gover nance and consent frameworks Guar drails — Data-sharing pr otocols aligned with DEP A — Anonymization and privacy standar ds and guidelines — Compliance with data-pr otection legislationEnablers2. Innovation layer — Mentorship fr om domain experts on solution design — Cross-functional, inter disciplinary teams — Preferential market access for validated solutions Guar drails — Domain-specific validation frameworks for AI applications — Trustworthiness and risk-evaluation pr otocols — Deployment guar drails for high-risk use casesEnablers3. Models layer — Development of localized small language models (SLMs) — Localized and domain-specific model architectur es — Access to foundation models and application programming interfaces (APIs) Guar drails — Model evaluation benchmarks, laws and regulations — Mandated use of local training data — Disclosur e of model parameters and fine- tuning methods Enablers5. Infrastructur e layer — Subsidized access to compute thr ough public GPU clusters — Preconfigur ed and secur e dev-test envir onments — PPP models for AI infrastructur e Guar drails — Critical/zer o-trust infrastructur e security protocols — Sectoral AI safety and security policies — Guidelines on safe r egulation Shaping the AI Sandbox Ecosystem for the Intelligent Age 15