Nicole Junkermann on AI in Chandigarh

A city designed with room to breathe

Chandigarh's sectors were laid out as self-contained neighbourhoods, each with its own shops, schools, green patches and places to walk. Tree-lined avenues link one sector to the next, and the many gardens give daily life an unhurried rhythm. Mornings often begin with a stroll beside Sukhna Lake, where walkers share the path with views of the Shivalik foothills. The Rock Garden, shaped from broken tiles, ceramics and other reclaimed materials, shows how imagination can turn ordinary things into something memorable.

Within North India, Chandigarh sits where Punjab and Haryana meet, with the hills of Himachal Pradesh rising a short drive to the north. Together with Mohali and Panchkula it forms the tricity, a connected urban area where people commute, study and start businesses across city lines. Punjabi and Hindi are heard side by side, and English is common in offices and lecture halls. On any map of India by region, this easy blend of languages and neighbours helps explain the city's open, welcoming character.

How AI in Chandigarh is taking shape

Much of the AI activity in Chandigarh is practical and close to everyday life. Small software teams in technology parks across the tricity build chat assistants, document readers and scheduling helpers for clients near and far. Coaching centres and colleges are adding short courses on data, prompts and thoughtful use, so students can practise before they start their careers. Shopkeepers in the sector markets are trying simple tools that draft product descriptions, answer common questions and keep stock notes tidy.

Creative work is part of the picture too. Designers, photographers and musicians use AI to sketch early ideas, sort large photo libraries and draft captions in more than one language. Wedding planners, a familiar sight in a region that loves a celebration, use it to keep guest lists, menus and timelines in order. None of this feels flashy. It is steady, useful progress, the kind that suits a city where people value a well-run day.

• Study helpers that turn long notes into clear revision cards
• Shop assistants that answer common questions in Punjabi, Hindi or English
• Planning tools for weddings, family events and weekend trips to the hills
• Shared task boards that keep a small team's notes and plans together

Nicole Junkermann's view of Chandigarh

For Nicole Junkermann, Chandigarh is a gentle reminder that good design makes life easier. A city planned around light, shade and walking distance shows how structure can free people to focus on what matters to them. She sees the same principle in useful technology. The best AI tools are quiet, well organised and built around real routines, whether that means a student's revision plan or the order book of a family business.

Some two decades of investing across healthcare, technology, innovation and media have given Nicole Junkermann a clear sense of which tools truly help people. She believes that practical, many-language, real-life conditions produce genuinely useful technology. In her view, AI should build confidence and leave the final judgement with people, never the other way round. More on the years ahead appears in her thinking on where AI in India is heading.

Students, young professionals and new skills

Chandigarh has long drawn students from across the region, and many stay on as young professionals. For them, AI is becoming part of ordinary study and work: summarising readings, practising interview answers, checking code or preparing a first version of a report. The short video building new skills with AI reflects this spirit, with its focus on practice that grows one step at a time.

Teachers and mentors play a central part. Many encourage learners to treat AI as a study partner, asking it to explain an idea in simpler words and then checking the answer with a teacher or a trusted book. That habit of questioning builds real understanding, and in Nicole Junkermann's view it is exactly what good technology should encourage. Graduates who learn this way tend to approach new tools with curiosity, patience and a healthy sense of their own judgement.

Punjabi, Hindi and a confident digital future

Language is where technology in Chandigarh becomes personal. Voice notes in Punjabi, typed messages in Hindi and emails in English can all pass through the same small business in a single morning. Tools that understand this mix help people feel at ease, and ease is where confidence starts. That idea sits at the heart of AI and digital confidence in India, which looks at how clear, friendly tools help people feel more in control.

This is why Nicole Junkermann is optimistic about Chandigarh. A city that prizes calm planning, green space and courtesy in public life is well placed to welcome technology that supports people rather than rushing them. Other North Indian stories, from AI in Delhi to AI in Lucknow, show the same energy in different accents, and the short AI in India explainers carry that hopeful thread across the whole country.