Mumbai, November 13, 2026: The Indian Institute of Management Kozhikode (IIMK), in partnership with global ed-tech firm Emeritus, has launched the Chief Product & AI-Driven Strategy Officer (CPAIO) Programme, an 11-month advanced leadership course aimed at equipping senior product professionals with AI-enabled strategic capabilities. The programme features an online certificate course by Kellogg Executive Education.
The CPAIO programme targets senior product professionals, business leaders, and entrepreneurs seeking to drive product-led and AI-enabled growth. According to the Products That Count report (2025), 70% of Fortune 1000 companies are expected to have a Chief Product Officer by 2027, highlighting the increasing demand for product leadership roles.
Programme structure and curriculum
The 11-month blended programme combines live online sessions by IIM Kozhikode faculty, pre-recorded sessions by Kellogg Executive Education, and a three-day campus immersion at IIM Kozhikode. The curriculum covers product strategy and vision, product-led growth and innovation, and product leadership, integrating disciplines such as strategy, design thinking, product finance and control, lifecycle management, and AI-first product innovation.
Participants will engage with modules on AI-driven marketing and growth, generative AI and agentic AI applications, product lifecycle and rapid prototyping, cloud and DevOps for product leaders, and ethics, governance, and legal considerations for AI products. The programme includes over 90 hours of synchronous online sessions, more than 15 hours of live in-campus sessions, 16 hours of Kellogg sessions, two business simulations, and a capstone project.
Learning outcomes and certifications
Graduates of the programme will be able to design and lead AI-integrated product strategies, apply financial and analytical frameworks to product decisions, utilise AI-first approaches such as LLMs, NLP, RAG, and computer vision, and build scalable, ethical AI-led product systems. Participants will receive credentials from both IIM Kozhikode and Kellogg Executive Education and become eligible for IIM Kozhikode Executive Alumni Status.
Leadership perspectives
Prof. Debashis Chatterjee, Director, IIM Kozhikode, said the programme prepares leaders to deliver sustained product growth by blending product strategy, finance, analytics, and AI-first thinking. Avnish Singhal, Executive Vice President and Head India & APAC at Emeritus, stated that the CPAIO programme combines IIM Kozhikode’s academic rigour with Emeritus’s delivery to equip leaders for product-led growth in the AI era.
Background on IIM Kozhikode and Emeritus
IIM Kozhikode, established in 1997, offers a range of management programmes and is ranked 3rd in the NIRF India Rankings 2025: Management. The institute is globally accredited by EQUIS and AMBA, and features in the QS World University Rankings by Subject 2024. IIM Kozhikode has delivered nearly 1,300 management development programmes to over 41,000 participants from more than 150 organisations.
Emeritus collaborates with leading institutions including IIM Calcutta, IIM Lucknow, ISB, Harvard Business School, MIT Sloan, and Kellogg Executive Education to deliver executive education programmes in multiple formats. The company has over 1,750 employees worldwide and is backed by investors such as the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, Prosus Ventures, and SoftBank Vision Fund 2.
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