It is Time to Invent AI, Not Just Use It: 10 AI Project Ideas for the Engineer in You

Rahul Kulkarni is a technologist, educator, and mentor who, over his two-decade career, has built several groundbreaking products and teams globally. Currently he wears multiple hats - in his role as Chief Technologist at Samagra, Rahul leads digital transformations across state governments using open-source solutions while building internal capabilities. He has helped architect key national DPIs (Digital Public Infrastructure) and population scale AI implementations, and has pioneered the Code for GovTech mentoring program to accelerate open-source DPGs in India.

As Co-founder and Partner at DoNew, he applies strength- and project-based mentorship models to help organizations build moonshots. He works closely with global giants like the Tata Group, Amdocs and Fiserv, as well as startups supported by the Central Square Foundation and Michael Susan & Dell Foundation.

As Adjunct Faculty at Pimpri Chinchwad College of Engineering, Rahul is shaping one of India’s first regional-language Bachelor’s programs in Computer Science. He also drives India’s National Education Policy (NEP) adoption as a Malaviya Mission Mentor and is a Fellow at the Anjali Morris Foundation for students with dyslexia.

Previously, Rahul was Chief Product Officer at Sokrati (later acquired by Dentsu-Japan) and spent six years at Google, where he helped build iconic products like Google Finance, Orkut, and Google India Maps. Earlier in his career, he led LabVIEW at National Instruments, developing high-speed control systems for clients like NASA and CERN.

Rahul holds 9 patents, has spoken at the United Nations and TEDx, and earned a Masters in Engineering from Georgia Tech and a Bachelors from VJTI Mumbai.