India and Japan have signed a major Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to incorporate construction data in the urban AI systems, enhancing the development of smart cities in both countries.
This agreement was declared during the outer venues of the first Japan-India AI Strategic Dialogue, and it connects Japanese openBIM standards with the Indian platform of IUDX.
What is the Agreement About?
The MoU was signed on April 22, 2026, in Bengaluru between ONESTRUCTION Inc., a Japanese company specialized in open-standard construction data, and DataKaveri Systems, the commercial division of the Centre of Data of Public Good of IISc Bengaluru.
The transaction links the openBIM platform of ONESTRUCTION, which is built with the global standard of building information, IFC, with the Intelligent Universal Data Exchange (IUDX) of DataKaveri, which works in 55 Indian smart cities.
This allows smooth exchange of construction information such as floor plans, utility plans, and asset histories to AI-based city-planning.
The MoU was signed at the first Japan-India AI Strategic Dialogue (April 21-22, 2026) between India (co-chaired by Amit A. Shukla (Joint Secretary, MEA) and Japan (co-chaired by Takahiro Hanada (Deputy Assistant Minister, MOFA).
The meeting in Mumbai and Bengaluru furthered the 2025 Japan-India AI Cooperation Initiative, which centers on the AI co-creation, talent mobility, governance, and industrial applications.
It expands upon previous agreements, such as the joint statement of the 15th India-Japan Annual Summit and previous smart city MoCs such as the one with Thane Municipal Corporation.
Key Technological Integration
IUDX supports exchange of data in urban services such as mobility, utilities, environment and public safety which are now enhanced with standard construction data to avoid silos when a project is completed.
The partnership focuses on the AI application cases of digital twins, simulating and governance models of virtual cities, and bilaterally funded joint research.
The participation of ONESTRUCTION was emphasized during a networking meeting with other companies such as Fujitsu and Indian LLM developers BharatGen and Sarvam.
This data agreement will solve urban issues by opening the so-called goldmine of construction data to make infrastructure smarter, making transport and services decisions more effective.
It reinforces India-Japan relations in the next-generation technologies in the context of the global race of AI and fits the mission of smart cities in India and the experience of resilient urban technologies in Japan. These efforts will be increased in future rounds of the AI Dialogue in Japan.
