New Delhi | 24 September 2026: Primus Partners, a global management consulting firm specialising in policy, strategy, technology, and sustainability, has launched “Built Lean, Built to Scale: An Artificial Intelligence Compendium from the Global South” during UNGA Week at the Consulate General of India, New York.
The compendium explores how Global South countries are developing context‑specific AI solutions shaped by real‑world constraints, featuring research, case studies, and practitioner perspectives across compute, data, and skilling.
It includes a Foreword by Shri Jitin Prasada, Hon’ble Minister of State for Electronics & IT and Commerce & Industry, Government of India, emphasising that AI’s value must be measured by its impact on people and economies.
Key Highlights
- Launch by Richard (Dick) A. Gephardt, Former US Congressman and House Majority Leader (1989–95).
- Practitioner perspectives from IIT Bombay, Intel Corporation, Karya, Bhashini, Katha, and CoRover.ai.
- Case studies on frugal, edge, multilingual, and sector‑specific AI approaches.
- Dialogue featured policymakers, technology leaders, industry practitioners, and multilateral institutions.
Nilaya Varma, Group CEO & Co‑Founder, Primus Partners: “What if we look at AI not by the number of Large Language Models, but by how large a population can we impact? Building in contexts with varied compute capacity and diverse languages, we must focus on outcomes. India and the Global South can lead by building scalable, cost‑efficient solutions.”
Richard Gephardt: “This compendium is necessary because the people of the Global South must be involved in how AI is researched and developed, from their own perspectives. Organising around compute, data, and skilling gives us a clear north star for practical solutions.”
Strategic Insights
- Global South innovation driven by constraints: from mobile money in Africa to India’s digital public infrastructure.
- AI success will be defined by population‑scale impact, not just model sophistication.
- Emphasis on local languages, representative data, and sector‑specific realities.
- Smaller, specialised, resource‑efficient models seen as vital complements to frontier AI.
- Stronger local ecosystems, international cooperation, and governance frameworks required for safe and responsible scaling.
About Primus Partners
Primus Partners is a global management consulting firm focused on policy, strategy, technology, and sustainability. With expertise across public policy, digital transformation, infrastructure, climate, healthcare, and emerging technologies, Primus Partners combines strategic thinking with on‑ground implementation to deliver measurable outcomes.
🌐 Website: www.primuspartners.in