Shaping the AI Sandbox Ecosystem for the Intelligent Age 2025

To create a practical and actionable framework for establishing AI sandboxes in India, the World Economic Forum, under the guidance of the AI for India 2030 Advisory Council, constituted a multistakeholder Expert Group for the AI sandbox workstream (see Contributors for the composition of the Advisory Council and Expert Group). The Expert Group brought together key perspectives from across the AI ecosystem – government officials, industry leaders, start-up founders, researchers and global experts. This methodology helped surface insights grounded in the Indian context while drawing from global experiences to shape a forward-looking AI sandbox framework. Following the Expert Group’s recommendation, the team undertook the following three activities: –A multistakeholder workshop held on 25 February 2025 in Bengaluru comprising leading AI-first start-ups (see Contributors for the list of start-ups) in sectors such as healthcare, agriculture, education and logistics, along with officials from the government of Karnataka, aimed at identifying on-the-ground barriers to innovation. –Expert consultations with more than 20 ecosystem stakeholders to explore sandbox models, governance structures and risk- management approaches tailored to India. –Global benchmarking of sandbox initiatives to compare structural design, regulatory integration and innovation-enabling mechanisms in different countries. During these interactions, the participants or respondents voiced the need to create an ecosystem of AI sandboxes, not only as a means of establishing regulatory certainty but also to institute structured pathways for promoting the AI start-ups on their techno-commercial journeys.1.1 Context and methodology Caption: Visuals from a workshop with AI start- ups held in Bengaluru, Karnataka Shaping the AI Sandbox Ecosystem for the Intelligent Age 9