HCLTech Partners IIT Kanpur to Drive Deep Tech Innovation for GCCs

New Delhi: Global technology major HCL Technologies (HCLTech) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur (IIT Kanpur) to jointly accelerate deep tech innovation for Global Capability Centers (GCCs).

The partnership aims to convert cutting-edge academic research into real-world pilots and scalable enterprise solutions, with a strong focus on artificial intelligence (AI), robotics and next-generation technologies.

Bridging Research and Enterprise

The collaboration positions HCLTech as a strategic partner for GCCs seeking research-driven innovation. By combining HCLTech’s end-to-end GCC solutions with IIT Kanpur’s research strength and startup ecosystem, the initiative seeks to help enterprises reduce time-to-market and access niche expertise without building internal research infrastructure.

The partnership is designed to go beyond traditional outsourcing models by integrating academic research directly into enterprise problem-solving frameworks.

Leadership Perspective

Prof. Manindra Agrawal, Director of IIT Kanpur, highlighted that the institute has strong expertise in translational R&D across AI, intelligent systems, robotics and cybersecurity. He noted that the collaboration will provide researchers exposure to real-world enterprise challenges, research funding opportunities and industry mentorship.

Kiran Cherukuri, Executive Vice President and Global GCC Practice Head at HCLTech, said the next phase of GCC growth will depend on effectively leveraging world-class research ecosystems. He described the MoU as a catalyst to bring together academia, startups and enterprises to move from frontier research to enterprise-ready solutions at scale.

Launched at GCC 4.0 Summit

The collaboration was formally launched at the “GCC 4.0: Co-Creating India’s Innovation Powerhouse” summit in Hyderabad. The event brought together more than 250 leaders from India-based and global GCCs, startups, IIT Kanpur and the broader technology ecosystem.

Strategic Significance

As GCCs increasingly evolve into innovation hubs rather than cost centers, partnerships like this are expected to play a key role in enabling advanced engineering, deep tech experimentation and scalable digital transformation.

About HCLTech

HCL Technologies is a global technology company with over 226,000 employees across 60 countries. The company delivers services in AI, digital transformation, engineering, cloud and software solutions across industries including financial services, manufacturing, healthcare, telecom and retail.

For the twelve months ending December 2025, HCLTech reported consolidated revenues of $14.5 billion.