Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw inaugurated the WAVES Creators’ Corner at the India AI Impact Summit 2026, marking a significant step in the government’s strategy to position India as a global hub for AI-driven media and entertainment production.
Conceived as a live innovation workspace rather than a conventional exhibition, the platform brings together 51 startups from the AVGC-XR and media-tech ecosystem supported by WaveX. These firms are showcasing business-ready solutions ranging from prompt-to-cinema production pipelines and real-time gaming engines to agentic AI-powered newsroom automation, highlighting how artificial intelligence is reducing production costs and accelerating content creation cycles.
The pavilion also featured advanced technologies including multilingual AI interfaces and voice cloning solutions by Sarvam, immersive 270-degree film presentations curated by the National Film Development Corporation, digital face and voice re-ageing by Sony Research India, and marker-less motion capture built on consumer devices. The presence of global companies such as Adobe, Netflix, Sony and Amazon alongside early-stage startups reflected growing enterprise interest and collaboration opportunities in India’s creative technology value chain.
During his interaction with founders, including winners of the Bhasha Setu and Kalaa Setu challenges, Vaishnaw emphasised that AI is democratising content creation and enabling entrepreneurs from smaller cities to build globally competitive products. In a fireside conversation with Shradha Sharma, he underlined that the combination of policy support, talent and technology could unlock a new wave of digital entrepreneurship.
The initiative is closely linked with government programmes such as Waves Bazaar and the Create in India challenges, which aim to provide market access, funding pathways and international visibility for domestic creators.
A strong skilling component also runs through the project. The integration of AI into creative curricula by the Indian Institute of Creative Technology is expected to align the talent pipeline with future industry demand.