Tech Mahindra has announced a number of new investments into the UK, indicating the technology partnership signed between the UK and India recently was perhaps more than a PR stunt for the Prime Minister.

The UK government is in need of friends right now, and India is looking like it could be our new trading chum. As part of the announcement, Tech Mahindra has set up a new research lab, ‘Makers Lab’, at Adastral Park near Ipswich in collaboration with BT, has opened a new office in Salford, Greater Manchester and also plans to roll out an apprenticeship programme in the UK.

“Innovation is the key to survival in the digital future,” said CP Gurnani, CEO and MD of Tech Mahindra. “The UK-India Innovation partnership draws from the best learning and skills of both developed and developing economies in shaping the digital future. We at Tech Mahindra are taking the philosophy of disruption by design to our client ecosystem, academia and people through our research arm Makers Lab in UK.”

The ‘Makers Lab’ will aim to focus on a number of different areas such as artificial intelligence, machine learning and quantum computing to make citizen services and experiences simpler. The investment itself will form part of the TechMNxt Charter strategy, its global program to explore emerging technologies like AI, Blockchain, Cybersecurity and AI-infused IoT solutions.

While this might seem like a small partnership based around R&D for the moment, there is huge potential here. Tech Mahindra is a $4.7 billion IT services company with 115,00 employees across 90 countries and 903 global customers. Tech Mahindra is also part of the $19 billion Mahindra Group that employs more than 200,000 people in over 100 countries. As far as introductions go, this is a pretty good one to make, offering a lot more potential for investment and growth in the future.