Category technology

New Delhi, Mar 31: Bharti Airtel (NSE: BHARTIARTL) (“Airtel”), today announced an investment of US$ 1 Billion by Alpha Wave Global, Carlyle (NASDAQ: CG) and Anchorage Capital, through their affiliates, in Nxtra Data Limited (“Nxtra”), a subsidiary of Bharti Airtel engaged in the data center business, to expand its network across India and accelerate growth. Airtel will also participate in this round.

As part of the pact, Alpha Wave Global will invest US$435 million, Carlyle US$240 million, and Anchorage Capital US$35 million, with the rest being infused by Airtel. The investors’ final shareholding will be subject to finalized post-closing adjustments. Airtel will continue to retain a controlling stake in Nxtra. The deal is subject to regulatory approvals in India.

Nxtra – the first data center company in India to deploy AI at scale for predictive maintenance, energy efficiency, and automated operations – intends to deploy proceeds from the fund infusion to accelerate its growth plans. It plans to extensively scale its infrastructure and broaden its portfolio of services, catering to the evolving needs of enterprises, hyperscalers, and government organisations across the country.

India’s data center sector is currently witnessing rapid growth, driven by accelerating digital transformation across enterprises, rising adoption of cloud services, and expanding demand from hyperscalers. According to a Savills India report, India’s data center market is expected to grow at a CAGR of around 21% between 2024 and 2030 to reach nearly 3,400 MW of IT capacity.

“At Nxtra, we have built one of India’s most advanced and sustainable data center networks, designed to meet the evolving needs of enterprises, hyperscalers, and government. With ~300 MW capacity today, we aim to scale to 1 GW in the next few years, targeting ~25% market share,” Gopal Vittal, Executive Vice Chairman, Airtel, said.

Strategic partnerships with global investors and technology leaders are central to our growth roadmap, enabling us to accelerate expansion, harness world-class expertise, and deliver next-generation digital infrastructure solutions at scale. With strong market demand, we are committed to stepping up investments and strengthening India’s position as a leading data center hub.”

“We have built a strong partnership with Airtel and continue to believe Nxtra is well-positioned to benefit from India’s long-term digital infrastructure tailwinds. The company has made significant progress in expanding its capabilities, strengthening customer relationships and building a scalable platform, and we look forward to further working with Airtel and Nxtra’s management team to build the company into one of the largest datacenter players in India,” said Kapil Modi, Partner at Carlyle India Advisors.

Rick Gerson, Co-Founder & CIO, Alpha Wave Global, said, “Alpha Wave has a particular focus on identifying and backing AI-first businesses including Anthropic, OpenAI, Cerebras, SpaceX, X.ai, Ramp, Cognition and Long Lake Management. We are excited to partner with Mr. Sunil Mittal and the Bharti Group — a franchise defined by outstanding leadership and a remarkable track record of executing at scale alongside institutional investors – as Nxtra scales to become India’s leading data center business.”

Navroz D. Udwadia, Co-Founder, Alpha Wave Global, added, “India has an immense AI opportunity ahead of it — Indians already meaningfully interact with and on Chat GPT, Claude and other AI platforms. As such India is set to see its data center capacity grow meaningfully to keep up with hyperscaler and LLM demand.”

Headquartered in New Delhi, Nxtra operates 14 large core data centers and 120+ edge facilities across India, offering co-location, cloud infrastructure, managed hosting, data backup, disaster recovery, and edge computing services. It has a state-of-the-art facility in Pune and is developing additional AI-ready campuses in Chennai, Mumbai, and Kolkata. Nxtra has recently partnered with Google to build a gigawatt-scale AI data center campus, backed by a $15-billion investment.

New Delhi: The Government of India has approved 75 applications under the Electronics Components Manufacturing Scheme (ECMS), marking a major boost to the country’s electronics manufacturing sector.

Originally, the scheme aimed to attract investments worth ₹59,350 crore. However, approvals have already surpassed this target, reaching ₹61,671 crore, reflecting strong interest from both domestic and international companies.

The ECMS is designed to strengthen India’s capabilities in manufacturing key electronic components and reduce dependence on imports. It also seeks to position the country as a global hub for electronics production by encouraging large-scale investments and building a robust supply chain.

In terms of output, the scheme had set a production target of ₹4.56 lakh crore. Current approvals are expected to generate production close to ₹4.51 lakh crore, indicating that the initiative is on track to meet its goals.

Several leading companies have committed significant investments under the scheme. Dixon Display plans to invest ₹1,100 crore in display module sub-assemblies, while Syrma Strategic Electronics will invest ₹588 crore in laminates and flexible PCBs. Munoth Lithium Battery Pvt. Ltd. is set to invest ₹500 crore in Andhra Pradesh.

Other firms such as Vikas Components India, Wangda, O/E/N India Ltd., BG Electricals and Electronics, and Terminal Technologies have also announced investments across various electronic components. Additionally, companies like Lohum Cleantech, ASM Technologies, Indo-MIM Ltd., and Bharat FIH are contributing substantial capital to expand manufacturing capacity.

According to the Ministry of Electronics and IT, these investments are expected to enhance domestic production, create employment opportunities, and strengthen India’s position in the global electronics value chain.

The ECMS initiative highlights the government’s continued focus on building a self-reliant and globally competitive electronics industry.

Seoul, Korea, Mar 31 – SK Telecom (NYSE: SKM, hereinafter referred to as “SKT”) and Japan’s leading mobile operator NTT DOCOMO, INC. today announced the release of a white paper on the key enabling features for vRAN1 evolution and the path to AI-RAN2 (the white paper), as the latest outcome of their ongoing technical cooperation.

The white paper reviews the prospects for further enhancement and advancement of vRAN and AI-RAN – which means intelligent RAN utilizing AI capability – for mobile operators, as well as the associated technical requirements and enabling technologies based on the two companies’ combined experience in mobile network construction and operation. It aims to promote the evolution of vRAN and AI-RAN by encouraging closer collaboration between mobile network operators and equipment vendors in the development of vRAN software.

The white paper analyzes three key technical requirements that are essential to maximizing the benefits of advanced vRAN and AI-RAN.

1.Strict separation of hardware and software to accelerate new feature introduction

By functionally separating RAN software from specific hardware and virtualization platforms, vRAN allows software to be deployed independently from underlying infrastructure, thereby accelerating software‑driven innovation. Such strict separation of hardware and software is identified as a critical factor in the advancement of vRAN and AI‑RAN.

2.Resource pooling for flexible infrastructure and improved resource utilization

In addition to strict hardware-software separation, resource pooling technologies can enable capacity improvements and reductions in power consumption, without compromising service quality, by realizing flexible infrastructure and improving resource utilization. The further development and adoption of this feature could help mobile operators strengthen their competitiveness by supporting more efficient and adaptable network operations.

3.Realization of AI computing capabilities (AI-RAN) by leveraging vRAN systems

Leveraging resource orchestration technologies and an xPU3‑based architecture enables base stations to provide AI computing capabilities without compromising the quality of mobile communication services. This approach aims to evolve vRAN from a mobile communication platform into an integrated AI platform capable of delivering both mobile communication connectivity and AI services.

“This white paper is a meaningful achievement as it presents, from a mobile operator’s perspective, the key features essential for maximizing the benefits of vRAN adoption and for the future evolution toward AI-native networks. We are pleased to have delivered this outcome through our close collaboration with DOCOMO, and we hope it will serve as a catalyst for fostering the broader ecosystem and contribute to the global advancement of next‑generation mobile networks,” said Yu Takki, Head of Network Technology Office at SK Telecom.

“We are pleased that as a result of the technical collaboration with SKT, which began in November 2022, we have jointly published the white paper on the key enabling features for vRAN evolution and the path to AI-RAN. We hope to further strengthen cooperation between the two major mobile operators in East Asia and to share advanced concepts and innovative technologies with the world to realize the 6G era,” said Masafumi Masuda, General Manager of Radio Access Design Department, Senior Vice President, NTT DOCOMO, INC.

DOCOMO and SKT signed a cooperation agreement in November 20224 to advance technology studies of next-generation telecommunications infrastructure for 5G Evolution and 6G. In February 20235, they jointly released two white papers on power-saving technologies for mobile networks and related technologies, as well as 6G requirements. Furthermore, in February 20246, they published a white paper on key considerations for vRAN deployment and operation, focusing on L1 accelerator selection aligned with network design and requirements.

Going forward, DOCOMO and SKT will continue their technical cooperation in various fields, including enhancing the competitiveness and operational efficiency of 5G, as well as international standardization and technology verification towards 6G. Through these efforts, they aim to share their knowledge and innovative technologies with the world and contribute to the further advancement of 5G Evolution and 6G mobile communications.

Read the white paper, “Key Enabling Features for the Evolution of vRAN and the Path to AI-RAN”:https://bit.ly/4sunsGB

1 Technologies that operate mobile base stations as software using general-purpose servers, hardware accelerators, and virtualization platforms.

2 Technologies that integrate AI into the RAN (Radio Access Network) by running AI applications on the RAN infrastructure.

3 A general term for information processing units such as CPU and GPU.

4 SKT Joins Hands with NTT DOCOMO for Comprehensive Cooperation in ICT (November 21, 2022) https://www.sktelecom.com/en/press/pressdetail.do?idx=1549, NTT DOCOMO and SK Telecom to Collaborate on Technological Advancement of Metaverse, Digital Media and 5G/6G (November 22, 2022) https://www.docomo.ne.jp/info/newsrelease/2022/11/2100.html (in Japanese only)

5 SK Telecom and DOCOMO Release White Papers on Green Mobile Networks and 6G Requirements (February 22, 2023) https://www.sktelecom.com/en/press/pressdetail.do?idx=1557&, NTT DOCOMO and SK Telecom Release White Papers on Green Mobile Networks and 6G Requirements (February 22, 2023) https://www.docomo.ne.jp/english/info/mediacenter/pr/2023/022200.html

6 SK Telecom and NTT DOCOMO Release White Paper on Key Considerations for vRAN (February 20, 2024) https://news.sktelecom.com/en/559, NTT DOCOMO and SK Telecom Release White Papers on Base Station Equipment Utilizing Virtualization Technology (February 20, 2024) https://www.docomo.ne.jp/english/info/mediacenter/pr/2024/022000.html

London, UK—30th March, 2026— Metals.io, a new application for investing in and trading tokenized commodities, is live in the Tezos ecosystem. Developed by a team at Trilitech, a London-based Tezos R&D hub, the web app unlocks access to a selection of rare-earth metals, as well as base metals and minerals that are critical to the technology sector and the AI boom. Designed from the ground up as a single entry-point to a range of tokenized assets, metals.io launches with a dedicated and user-centric web app, which enables users to search for and add a range of tokenized commodities to their portfolios. Metals.io benefits from Tezos’ smart-rollup technology, which boasts sub-50ms latency, meaning that traders on the platform enjoy near-instant transaction confirmations, giving them the critical advantage they need in this dynamic market. 

Metals.io is launching at a pivotal moment, as demand for critical minerals and precious metals has intensified recently, driven on one hand by industrial applications and on the other by investors seeking portfolio diversification options in the face of economic uncertainty. The U.S. government’s establishment of a U.S. critical mineral reserve has led to further attention on these assets, which are essential to modern manufacturing and used in everything from smartphones to wind turbines and fighter jets. Metals.io launches with a number of these tokenized assets already live, with more to be added in the coming months. From today, visitors to the site can access xU3O8 tokenized uranium; VNX Gold (VNXAU), digital proof of ownership of allocated gold which is physically held in a high-security vault in Liechtenstein; and the RARE token from Noemon Tech, which provides transparent exposure to a diversified basket of five strategic metals selected for their critical industrial and technological value. 

“The current rapid pace of innovation in the AI sector and several other related fields is having a knock-on effect on demand for metals and materials that are critical to these endeavors. RARE enables users to gain digital ownership of a diversified basket of strategic metals – including elements such as hafnium, rhenium, indium, neodymium oxide, and praseodymium oxide – all of which are key to modern technologies and industrial applications. The team at Trilitech has developed an incredible gateway for accessing these assets, and Metals.io is a great showcase of how the future of RWA investing is taking place on Tezos,” said Dimitrios Kavvathas, Founder of Noemon Tech Ltd.

Metals.io uses the same underpinning technology as the uranium.io platform that launched on Etherlink, the EVM interface for Tezos, in December 2024. Uranium.io was purpose-built to minimise barriers to investing in uranium ore concentrate (U3O8), the asset that is used in nuclear reactors and could be key to powering the AI revolution. Since launching, uranium.io has played a pivotal role in bridging the multi-billion-dollar traditional commodity market with the speed and transparency of decentralized finance (DeFi), welcoming new investors who would not previously have had the opportunity to own and trade the commodity. The platform has received widespread industry recognition for these innovations, including winning the Best New Product award in the Innovation in Crypto & Web3 category at the latest Benzinga Global Fintech Awards. Now, metals.io is leveraging this successful model to facilitate access to other in-demand assets such as gold and other critical base metals.

“Throughout the 21st century, gold has consistently proven itself as one of the world’s premier assets, delivering stability and preserving wealth when traditional markets waver. VNX Gold (VNXAU) brings this enduring value into the modern era by offering digital tokens that represent verifiable proof of ownership of allocated gold, held in high-security vaults. By combining the strength of industry-leading custodians with the transparency and immutability of blockchain technology, we provide investors with all the security of physical gold, elevated with the efficiency, divisibility, and flexibility of a digital asset, allowing gold to become a fractional and programmable asset that can participate in modern on-chain financial services. Built on the robust and energy-efficient Tezos blockchain, VNX Gold (VNXAU) is making verifiable gold ownership accessible to a new generation of investors,” said Alexander Tkachenko, CEO and Founder, VNX.

Commenting on the launch of Metals.io, Arthur Breitman, co-founder of Tezos, said, “Commodity markets are global and indispensable, yet access to them remains fragmented and layered with intermediaries. As the AI revolution accelerates, energy and critical materials are becoming core economic constraints. Tokenization streamlines ownership and transfer of these assets at a global scale. Metals.io represents the maturation of that model, bringing essential commodities directly onto modern digital rails.”

Bengaluru, Mar 30: Asserting its leadership of India’s shared electric mobility market, Yulu announced that it has completed 2 billion kilometres of green rides  significantly more than any other player in the industry. The milestone caps seven years of Yulu’s category-creation success story and reinforces its structural advantage arising from its 45,000-strong EV fleet, AI-powered mobility stack, energy ecosystem via Yuma Energy, and the deep customer and stakeholder trust it has built over the years.

While Yulu took six years to achieve the 1-billion-kilometre mark, it went from 1 billion km to 2 billion km in just around 14 months. This acceleration reflects the strong and sustained demand for Yulu’s hyperlocal goods mobility service in recent years. The company’s purpose-built delivery EVs have revolutionised intracity logistics in India by making it technology-enabled, accessible, seamless, and affordable for gig workers and brands alike.

Today, Yulu is deeply embedded in India’s doorstep delivery ecosystem through partnerships with leading e-commerce and quick commerce platforms such as Zomato, Swiggy, Big Basket, Blinkit, Flipkart Minutes, Instamart and Zepto. Yulu riders have fulfilled over 400 million green doorstep deliveries across grocery, food and emerging categories like on-demand house-help offered by platforms like Pronto, Snabbit and Urban Company. Notably, more than 1,000 women riders now use Yulu’s EVs to expand their work radius and commute more easily, thus significantly increasing their earning potential.

Yulu’s scale has generated significant goodness for society. An example of this is gig worker livelihood creation. By dismantling age-old barriers related to vehicle access, cost, creditworthiness, ease of riding, and maintenance, Yulu helps gig workers to unlock better work opportunities and save 30-40% more money compared to traditional petrol vehicles. Over 500,000 gig workers have been empowered by Yulu’s mobility platform so far.

Additionally, Yulu’s ability to support clean last-mile logistics makes it a valued ally for governments to improve urban air quality, decongest roads, and attain sustainable growth. In the last seven years, Yulu has helped avoid 54 million kilogrammes of urban CO2 emissions, underlining the role it plays in making our cities more liveable.

Amit Gupta, CEO & Co-founder of Yulu, says,

 “The 2-billion-kilometre milestone reflects not only Yulu’s market leadership, but also the deep impact we are creating across India’s urban mobility landscape. What started as a bold vision to build a sustainable and accessible solution has today become a critical enabler for millions of users and citizens. As we look ahead, Yulu reaffirms our commitment to helping people, businesses and cities to move better.”

In FY2027, Yulu aims to double its fleet size and enter several new cities through a mix of company-led and partner-led launches – reinforcing its ambition to remain India’s number one choice for hyperlocal goods and people mobility.

Bengaluru-based e-commerce unicorn Udaan has raised $114 million in its latest funding round, bringing its total capital to over $2 billion as it prepares for a planned IPO in 2026. The B2B platform, which connects small retailers with suppliers across India, plans to use the new funds to expand into fast-moving consumer goods and the HoReCa sector, while strengthening its core operations ahead of going public.

Meanwhile, Japanese tech giant SoftBank has secured a $40 billion loan to fuel its ambitious investments in OpenAI. The massive facility underscores SoftBank’s commitment to artificial intelligence and positions the company to make further strategic bets in the rapidly evolving AI landscape.

Together, these moves show how startups and global investors are actively shaping the next wave of growth in e-commerce and artificial intelligence, blending ambition with strategic foresight.

BOSTON – 29 March 2026: Vodia Networks, Inc., a provider of unified cloud communications solutions to enterprises, contact centers, and service providers, is pleased to announce the official release of Vodia PBX V70, the next major version of its cloud phone system. V70 has been engineered for operational scale, administrative clarity, and production readiness; it introduces architectural and usability improvements designed for real-world, multi-tenant deployments. 

As organizations consolidate communication tools and look to automate customer interactions, V70 brings voice, messaging, and AI into a single PBX platform. 

The V70 interface has been designed for efficiency and speed. Whether managing a single system or hundreds of tenants, V70 delivers faster navigation, smarter workflows, and powerful new capabilities to make administration more intuitive. V70 also introduces improvements in scalability, flexibility, and operational safety, including higher call capacity per server, cross-tenant presence and BLF sharing, snapshots, and centralized remote provisioning. 

“V70 reflects how our partners deploy and manage PBX systems at scale,” said Christian Stredicke, founder and CEO of Vodia. “We focused on improving visibility, simplifying administration, and enabling automation without adding complexity.”

V70 also gives users enhanced emergency alerts, robust scheduling, and greater control. With V70, administrators can configure emergency and notification alerts triggered by users – once activated, alerts can send notifications via multiple channels and automatically initiate calls to designated numbers. Service flags in V70 can now be configured with multiple events and integrated with external calendars.

AI, automation, and real-time visibility

V70 introduces integrated AI capabilities and real-time monitoring tools to improve operational control, including fully-automated outbound AI Voice Agents for automated customer outreach, powered by OpenAI’s Realtime API. The same framework can handle both inbound and outbound calls, creating consistent conversational experiences. V70 also introduces a powerful custom dashboard framework, allowing administrators complete control to build and tailor dashboards based on their specific monitoring needs, eliminating the need for third-party tools. 

WhatsApp business messaging

V70 enables integration with the WhatsApp Business Platform for calling and messaging, allowing WhatsApp users to call your business number and have those calls routed directly into the PBX, without any middleware or gateway. Messaging capabilities are also included to support incoming and outgoing text and image messages. 

External presence sharing and skills-based routing

External presence sharing enables two tenants on the same PBX to share presence information, or across different PBX servers in separate locations (the PBX systems must be able to reach each other via the internet). V70 provides users with skills-based routing, so organizations can assign skills to numbers, enabling incoming calls to be routed to agents based on expertise, language, or role.

Supported operating systems and platforms

●      Ubuntu 24 and above

●      Debian 12 and above

●      CentOS Stream 10 and above

●      AlmaLinux 10 and above

●      Rocky Linux 10 and above

●      Amazon Linux 2023 (AL2023)

●      Support continues for the embedded Vodia IOP (Raspberry Pi) solution

●      Support for AArch64 (ARM64) architecture (to run the PBX on AWS Graviton processors)

Documentation

Detailed release notes for V70 are available for further information. 

Vodia welcomes feedback from partners and customers deploying V70, v70feedback@vodia.com, +1 (617) 861-3490.

Miami, Mar 28: OpenEvidence, the most widely used medical AI and clinical decision-support platform among U.S. physicians, today announced the launch of Coding Intelligence to automate the coding process and capture missing reimbursement, allowing physicians to focus on their patients.

OpenEvidence logo Modern medical billing has become impossibly complex and time-consuming. With tens of thousands of billing codes and multiple ways to code the same visit, the complexity of billing makes it challenging for physicians to get appropriately reimbursed without pivoting their focus away from patient care. We built Coding Intelligence™ to solve this.

OpenEvidence Coding Intelligence is live today in Visits. It delivers automatic ICD-10 diagnoses, E/M level recommendations with supporting MDM rationale written directly into the note, and CPT code suggestions for faster, more accurate reimbursement, all derived from clinical documentation and based on the latest clinical guidelines. Coding Intelligence is applied automatically at the end of every visit and is available the moment a note is finished.

“Without any extra work, OpenEvidence is able to generate concise rationale for their CPT + E/M suggestions. It truly captures the complexity of the encounter and saves me hours when I’m at the ER,” said Ania Bilski, MD, VP of Clinical AI at OpenEvidence.
OpenEvidence Coding Intelligence™ provides:

E/M level recommendations with the full MDM rationale already written. Medical decision-making documentation is one of the most time-consuming parts of medical practice. For every hour of patient care, physicians spend nearly two additional hours on documentation. OpenEvidence generates the MDM breakdown automatically from the clinical note.

Whether billing by complexity or by time, the reasoning is already documented and included in the record. Never guess CPT codes again. Suggestions are automatically surfaced based on what was done during the visit – including uncommon procedure codes that are easily missed for complex cases. The wrong code billed out of habit quietly compounds into significant lost revenue.

Coding Intelligence™ ensures the right code gets submitted helping physicians avoid lost revenue and minimize time spent in paperwork. Automatic CPT code sequencing to maximize reimbursement. Under Medicare’s Multiple Procedure Payment Reduction policy, every procedure after the first reimburses at roughly 50%. The order the codes are listed in determines how much the practice gets reimbursed.

OpenEvidence shows expected RVU values alongside each CPT suggestion so codes can be sequenced correctly before the claim goes out  exactly the way an experienced biller would. ICD-10 diagnosis suggestions that reflect actual complexity of the encounter. ICD-10 diagnosis suggestions are surfaced automatically  no manual lookup, no searching for the most specific code at the end of a full clinic day.

The suggestions reflect the actual nuance of what was documented. “The true ‘gold’ is how the algorithm generates clear, concise, and RVU-billable Medical Decision Making (MDM) statements [it] captures the complexity of the work already being done without forcing the physician to upcode.”

 Kevin Lu, MD
Coding Intelligence is available today for all verified clinicians in OpenEvidence.

Mar 26: You can tell the future of travel is arriving not by what people are holding, but by what they’re wearing. Glasses that whisper cultural cues, watches that navigate through haptics, earbuds that quietly translate conversations: the screen is disappearing, but the tech is more present than ever.

Wearables are changing the rules of travel, allowing tourists to translate foreign languages and navigate foreign cities, all without touching their phone. The building blocks are already here: smart glasses that recognize landmarks, earbuds that translate conversations in real time and digital wallets that handle everything from boarding passes to shopping. But these tools don’t yet work together as one system.

“The ‘silos’ between services remain the biggest hurdle,” said IEEE Member Man Zhang. 

Breaking those silos, Zhang said, requires breakthroughs in application programming interfaces integration, user data privacy protocols and, most importantly, creating AI agents that are 100% reliable. 

“We are probably five to 10 years away from this being a mainstream, trustworthy reality,” she noted.

The Missing Pieces: Power, Integration, Trust

 Tourists have relied on digital technology to ease the burdens of travel for years. Map apps in your smartphone can help you navigate a city and use public transportation. Translation apps can handle menus and basic conversations. Contactless payments now work in most major cities.  

As IEEE Member Ning Hu points out, the experience is still fragmented. Wearables do some of these things, but they all require connection to a smartphone, and most of them still require specific apps to run the device.

Real-time translation suffers from noticeable latency and struggles with accents and contextual nuances. Contactless payment systems are widely adopted but remain fragmented across regions. GPS is strong outdoors, but indoor navigation and contextual guidance still lag significantly. Safety tools exist, but they are not well integrated or predictive.

“The missing pieces extend beyond technology itself,” Hu said. “We need interoperability and trust. Universal standards are essential, and travelers must have confidence that these systems won’t fail at critical moments. This requires addressing cross-regional compliance and data privacy concerns.”

For wearables to become as dependable as a passport or wallet, Hu argues that five breakthroughs are key: week-long battery life, robust offline capability, contextual AI that understands when and how to interrupt, an international privacy and identity framework and devices durable enough to survive water, drops and temperature extremes.

Zhang sets an even higher standard for reliability. 

“We trust our passports and wallets because they are simple and don’t fail,” she said. “If your digital passport app has a bug at border control, or your payment system fails in a taxi, the technology becomes a liability, not a help. This level of trust requires AI that is not just ‘mostly right’ but ‘never wrong’ in critical situations.”

While it may not always be seamless, wearables are already on the market and are being used by travelers. 

 “We are already there. The technology is available to anyone, but it is not yet widely adopted,” said IEEE Life Fellow Stu Lipoff, who uses smart glasses connected to his phone when he travels. 

He already relies on voice commands to get directions and translate foreign text. He can ask, “What am I looking at?” through the camera and call for emergency help. The catch, he says, is that “the applications are not seamless and you need to learn to use them.”

Augmented Reality and Haptics: Information Without the Screen

 Where many experts see the biggest change is in how information reaches travelers’ senses.

“Haptics enables sensory substitution and liberation, freeing individual senses from dedicated tasks so they can be redirected to richer experiences,” said Hu. Instead of staring at a map, a traveler could feel a vibration pattern that signals a left or right turn. Eyes stay on the street, ears stay with companions and devices will tell people how to navigate through discreet signals they can feel.

Zhang imagines systems that help blind travelers with a combination of camera, AI and haptics, maybe in a wrist band, to signal turns or obstacles. For deaf travelers, AR glasses could provide real-time, live captioning of a tour guide’s speech.

In Brazil, lEEE Senior Member Cristiane Pimentel points to immersive projects that let blind visitors feel and hear the Iguazu Falls through sound and vibration. She expects wearables to become more aesthetically pleasing, more resilient to heat and humidity and eventually replace printed guides and even some physical information displays at tourist sites.

What Should Never Be Automated Away

 Despite their optimism, the experts draw a line on what travel tech should not replace.

“Technology should never replace the unfiltered, spontaneous sensory experience of tasting local food,” said Zhang, describing the experience of sitting in a Hanoi market with a bowl of phở as irreplaceable. 

The future these experts describe is not one of flashy gadgets for their own sake, but of quieter, more ambient tools. If they’re right, the most advanced travel tech will be the gear you barely notice, because you’re too busy paying attention to the place you came to see.

Flagship summit to showcase AI breakthroughs back-to-back with inaugural UN Global Dialogue on AI Governance

Geneva, 25 March 2026 – As governments accelerate strategies on artificial intelligence, sovereign AI and AI diffusion across economies and societies, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) will host the seventh AI for Good Global Summit from 7 to 10 July 2026 at Geneva’s Palexpo convention centre.

Over four days, leaders from government, industry, academia, civil society and the technical community will work together at AI for Good to guide the future of AI.

Live demos of tech innovations in agentic AI, edge AI, brain-computer interfaces, space computing and robotics will share the stage with discussions on national AI strategies to address the global challenge of unlocking AI’s potential to serve humanity.

AI for Good will be held back-to-back with the Global Dialogue on AI Governance, convened by the United Nations General Assembly and facilitated by UN Secretary-General António Guterres. Taking place at Palexpo from 6 to 7 July, the Global Dialogue is supported by a joint secretariat that includes the Executive Office of the Secretary General, ITU, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the United Nations Office for Digital and Emerging Technologies (ODET), with ITU and UNESCO leading the coordination.

“As artificial intelligence moves from strategy to real-world deployment, countries need the skills, solutions, and international standards for AI to work for everyone,” said ITU Secretary-General Doreen Bogdan-Martin. “Through AI for Good, ITU helps turn AI breakthroughs into practical ways to improve lives. We are also pleased to work with our partners on the inaugural UN Global Dialogue on AI Governance where Member States and stakeholders will exchange perspectives on the policies shaping AI’s future.”

Global summit with a Swiss twist

The AI for Good Global Summit is organized by ITU – the United Nations agency for digital technologies – with over 50 UN partners and co-convened by Switzerland.

The Summit is the flagship platform for showcasing and helping scale up AI applications in areas from healthcare and education to food security, disaster risk reduction and misinformation, particularly in developing countries.

World-class keynotes, global technology premieres and an expo floor filled with innovators, UN partners and national pavilions will present local AI solutions and strategies from around the world, including special exhibits featuring home-grown innovations from Switzerland.

“We are delighted to once again co-convene with ITU the AI for Good Global Summit in Geneva, a central location for discussing and showcasing advances in artificial intelligence,” said Albert Rösti, Swiss Federal Councillor and Head of the Federal Department of the Environment, Transport, Energy and Communication.

Uniting leaders to scale AI impact

Over 11,000 participants from 169 countries attended last year’s AI for Good Global Summit and World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) events. Participation included ministers from 100 countries, more than half representing developing countries.

The 2026 edition aims to further strengthen AI for Good as a globally representative platform for dialogue, collaboration, and action on AI and how to best harness the innovative power of technology.

Early speakers and programme details are now available, offering a first look at the global leaders shaping this year’s Summit, with further announcements to follow.

Solutions, skills, standards, and policy

“Day Zero” of the AI for Good Global Summit on 7 July will feature live demos, interactive exhibits, startup competitions and hands-on workshops. The summit’s Centre Stage officially opens on 8 July. Programme highlights include:

• Multistakeholder dialogue on AI standards and policy – exploring frontier challenges including agentic AI security, AI testing and benchmarking, misinformation and deepfakes, quantum technology applications and use cases, and AI infrastructure and energy demands.
• Global innovation competitions and awards – including the AI for Good Innovation Factory Grand Finale and machine-learning challenges on edge AI, TinyML, and space AI computing as well as the AI for Good Impact Awards and Robotics Youth Challenge Grand Finale.
• Technology demos and interactive expo – featuring cutting-edge systems in AI, robotics, embodied AI, brain-computer interfaces, autonomous vehicles and quantum technologies.
• AI skills and capacity-building programmes – with training sessions delivered by AI Skills Coalition partners, hands-on workshops and a dynamic Youth Zone supporting the next generation of innovators.
• Creative and cultural programmes – highlighting the intersection of AI and creativity with the AI for Good Film Festival, the Canvas of the Future AI Art Competition, and AI-enabled artistic performances. The summit will feature the premiere of RAISE, a documentary series executive produced by Leonardo DiCaprio exploring how AI is already being used to address humanity’s most urgent challenges.
• The Quantum for Good track – offering a look at quantum information technologies and their potential to transform industries and societies.

The AI for Good Global Summit 2026 is supported by its partners and sponsors:

• Co-Convener: Swiss Confederation
• Diamond Sponsors: Microsoft Corporation, Technology Innovation Institute
• Gold Sponsors: Ministry of Science and ICT (MSIT) of the Republic of Korea, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC) of Japan
• Silver Sponsors: EY, John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
• Networking Partners: d-teach, Giga, HP Inc. UK Limited, Google, Lenovo, TikTok Information Technologies UK Limited
• Session Partners: Access Partnership, Cisco Systems, Inc., EY, FSAB Consulting, GTI, Microsoft
• Innovation Factory Local Chapters: Akbank, Government of Catalonia – Spain