Media & Updates

TANUH hosted two expert talks from the Gates Foundation examining what it takes to build technology at national scale and what it takes to operate it once built.

Mr Sanjay Jain, Director, Digital Public Infrastructure

Mr Jain delivered a session on "Building Billion-People Scalable Technology: Lessons from Digital Public Infrastructure," using Aadhaar and UPI to illustrate how thoughtfully designed digital public infrastructure can enable innovation at national scale. He argued that building for scale begins with identifying a system's most critical functions and designing them to absorb rapid growth while remaining simple, reliable and cost-effective.

Drawing on the evolution of both systems, he pointed to implementation challenges that must be anticipated early, including data quality, enrolment logistics, and rising transaction volumes. He also showed how modular architecture, distributed infrastructure and open standards allow DPI to support diverse applications and encourage innovation.

Scalable public technology, he concluded, is built not through technical excellence alone but through careful planning, operational efficiency and user-centric design.

Mr Suhel Bidani, Lead, Digital and Supply Chain Platforms

Mr Bidani followed with "Operations Scalability in Rolling Out Public Initiatives: Key Challenges, Learnings and Measuring Impact," drawing on his experience leading large-scale public health programmes including Kilkari, the world's largest maternal health messaging initiative. Successful scale, he argued, rests less on innovation than on foundations: robust infrastructure, high-quality data, clear governance, shared digital platforms and sustained stakeholder engagement.

He stressed the importance of understanding on-the-ground realities, validating data and designing for local context, and noted that scaling implementation demands continuous learning, evidence generation and a willingness to iterate and fail. He closed by reflecting on India's particular opportunity to build AI-driven public health solutions that reach unprecedented scale while remaining affordable, ethical and impactful.