Empowering young engineers from diverse backgrounds with skills and global exposure, LEGO and CDAC-Noida have joined forces to boost India’s electronic toy industry.
On Thursday, the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (CDAC)-Noida, under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), signed a letter of intent (LoI) with the Creative Play Lab (CPL) of the LEGO Group to foster innovation in India’s electronics toy sector under the ‘Development of Electronics and IT-based Control and Automation Solutions for Consumer Electronic Goods (Toy Industry).’
This follows right after Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the Union Budget 2025-26 at the Lok Sabha, where she shared a vision of transforming the country into a global toy hub with a robust ecosystem.
The project seeks to support designing prototypes and providing essential skills to young engineers, particularly those from underrepresented communities. Selected young engineers from diverse backgrounds, including Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST), and North-eastern Region (NER) communities, have been chosen to take part in this year-long R&D initiative.
They will spend the first six months of the programme at CDAC-Noida’s toy labs, where they will gain hands-on experience in toy design and development. The second half of the programme will involve working in industry settings to refine their skills and create toy prototypes that address real-world industry demands.
As part of the global exposure component, LEGO India has partnered with CDAC-Noida and CPL to offer mentorship to one or two students per batch. These students will have the opportunity to visit LEGO’s headquarters in Billund, Denmark, providing a unique chance to interact with experts and explore cutting-edge toy development practices.
Additionally, CPL will host webinars for the third batch of engineers, sharing insights on experimentation and toy development standards and providing feedback on prototypes created by the students.
The signing ceremony, held at the Electronics Niketan, New Delhi, was attended by several dignitaries, including Bhuvnesh Kumar, Additional Secretary, MeitY, and Colette Burke, Global Chief Commercial Officer of LEGO Group, alongside several senior officials from MeitY, CDAC-Noida, and the LEGO Group.