How Samsung's CSR is building India’s future workforce

Samsung is providing students access to grants, incubation support, AI skills and employment opportunities.

India's ability to create jobs and equip its young workforce with AI skills will be crucial for its economic growth in the coming years. As Artificial Intelligence reshapes industries, it is not just changing the nature of work but also creating new roles and opportunities across sectors. Young people with the right combination of technological skills, practical exposure and the ability to innovate will be better positioned to lead this transformation. Preparing India's next generation for this changing world of work is therefore as important as creating the jobs of tomorrow.

Winner of the Samsung Solve for Tomorrow 2026 CSR initiative.

This is where Samsung comes in, through its focused CSR initiatives that are bridging the gap between education and employability by equipping young Indians with future-ready skills, nurturing innovation and entrepreneurship, and creating pathways to meaningful employment.

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) programmes have become an important part of this effort. According to the Bharat CSR Performance Report 2026 released by a leading CSR & Social Sector Consulting, Advisory and research firm­ ­‑ Fulcrum, Indian companies have contributed a cumulative total of ₹2.61 lakh crore since mandatory CSR provisions began in 2014. Education and healthcare receive the largest share of CSR spending, reflecting India's focus on building human capital.

A big focus is upgrading young Indians with skills so that they may be absorbed by industry - this is crucial since the recent State of Working India 2026 report by Azim Premji University in Bengaluru found that nearly 40 per cent of Indian graduates aged 25 and below are unemployed, while around 20 per cent of those aged between 25 and 29 are still without jobs.

"Samsung Solve for Tomorrow believed in us before we fully believed in ourselves," he says. “The programme gave us mentorship, expert guidance and the confidence to believe our idea could create real impact.”

Meanwhile, Rekha K, a student at the University of Lucknow, and a part of another CSR initiative - Samsung Innovation Campus - leveraged the programme to address a healthcare challenge she had witnessed up close. Using the Big Data skills, she acquired through the programme, she developed Healtytics, a data framework created to help doctors identify tuberculosis cases more quickly by improving patient record management. The project secured her recognition as the programme's National Topper in Big Data. "Working on Healtytics showed me how technology and data can solve real-world public health challenges," she says. "All of this would not have been possible without Samsung Innovation Campus."

Where Opportunity Begins

Over the past three decades, Samsung has aligned its citizenship initiatives with India’s development priorities. Reaching more than 1.5 million young people across India, its three flagship programmes form a connected pathway that encourages innovation, develops future technology skills, and improves employability. Samsung Solve for Tomorrow, Samsung Innovation Campus, and Samsung DOST Sales complement national priorities in innovation, entrepreneurship, digital capability, and workforce development.

“The future of India will be shaped not only by the technology we create, but by the young people we enable to create with it. Our role is to ensure that a promising idea does not remain just an idea, but gets the mentorship, skills and opportunity to evolve into a solution for the real world,” said SP Chun, Corporate Vice President, Samsung South West Asia.

Samsung Solve for Tomorrow encourages young people to look beyond everyday challenges and imagine how technology can improve lives. Introduced in India in 2022, the six-month innovation competition helps young people aged 14 to 22 develop practical solutions using science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Implemented with FITT-IIT Delhi, it partners with MeitY, NITI Aayog, DPIIT, the Office of the Principal Scientific Adviser, the Department of Science and Technology and the United Nations. In its fifth edition in 2026, the programme has conducted 184 Design Thinking Workshops across 135 cities and received entries from all states and 7 UTs. The top four teams receive a cumulative grant of ₹2 crore, mentorship, prototype development, and incubation support.

“India does not have an ideas deficit; it has an opportunity deficit between ideas and impact. Give young people the space to question, the tools to experiment and the ecosystem to build, and ideas can move from imagination to impact. That is where initiatives like Samsung Solve for Tomorrow can make a lasting difference,” said Nikhil Agarwal, MD, FITT, IIT Delhi.

Samsung Innovation Campus builds on that foundation by preparing young people for opportunities in a digital economy. Introduced in India in 2022, Samsung's flagship CSR initiative equips students with future-ready skills in Artificial Intelligence (AI). Alongside technical training, students receive soft-skills development to improve their employability. Since its launch, the programme has trained over 26,500 young people across India. In 2025, it expanded from four to ten states and trained 20,000 students, nearly six times the previous year's intake. The expansion reflects Samsung's contribution to India's efforts to build a future-ready digital workforce.

From Skills to Careers

Another CSR initiative, the Samsung DOST Sales Programme helps young people move from learning to employment. Launched in 2021, the programme follows the National Skills Qualification Framework (NSQF) Level 3 curriculum for In-Store Promoter and Demonstrator roles. Participants complete 120 hours of online learning delivered by certified trainers from the Electronics Sector Skills Council of India (ESSCI) and the Telecom Sector Skill Council (TSSC). Participants then complete 60 hours of practical training led by Samsung's retail teams and then undergo five months of paid on-the-job training. Eligible participants earn a government-recognised NSQF certification that boosts employability across India's organised retail sector. Under DOST Sales, Samsung is training more than 13,000 young people from underserved communities in 2026 alone, marking a two-fold increase in enrolment over the previous year.

Vishal Singh, 24, from Lucknow, joined the programme soon after graduating, uncertain about where his career would start from. The programme gave him practical workplace experience, financial support through the monthly stipend and, most importantly, the confidence to begin his career. "Sometimes all a young person needs is one opportunity and someone who believes in them. Samsung DOST gave me both," he said.

“A skill has its greatest value when it opens a door. For many young people, that door is their first meaningful opportunity to enter the world of work. Samsung DOST bridges that transition by combining learning with hands-on experience, industry exposure and a pathway to employment. When skills are connected to real workplaces and real opportunities, training stops being an endpoint and becomes the beginning of a career,” said Shubham Mukherjee, Head of CSR & Corporate Communications, Samsung South West Asia.

One Connected Journey

Samsung Solve for Tomorrow, Samsung Innovation Campus, and Samsung DOST Sales form an integrated citizenship ecosystem that supports young people from ideas to innovation, from technical learning to meaningful employment.

Together, the three programmes demonstrate how innovation, future-ready skills and employability can reinforce one another. By creating connected pathways from innovation to employment, Samsung is helping more young Indians realise their potential while contributing to India's long-term development goals towards becoming a global innovation and digital talent hub.