Union Minister of Education, Dharmendra Pradhan has announced the launch of three AI centres of excellence focused on healthcare, agriculture, and sustainable cities in New Delhi. These 3 AI centres have been established under the 'Viksit Bharat' mission and will be led by the top academic institutions in the country, in collaboration with industry partners, and startups. They will conduct interdisciplinary research, develop cutting-edge applications, and create scalable solutions in these three areas. The aim of launching these COEs is to galvanize an effective AI ecosystem and nurture quality human resources in these critical fields.
To establish these three COEs, the Government will spend around Rs. 990.00 Cr over the period of FY 2023-24 to FY 2027-28, as per the budget announced in 2023. To oversee the implementation of this initiative, an industry-heavy Apex Committee has been constituted, and co-chaired by Dr. Sridhar Vembu, Founder and CEO of Zoho Corporation.
During his speech at the event, the minister expressed his belief that the establishment of three Centers of Excellence in Artificial Intelligence (AI) will motivate young people to aspire to become successful entrepreneurs. He also mentioned that these centres will play a crucial role in addressing public policy and nutrition challenges in African countries.
In a social media post on platform X, he wrote, "I want to compliment the apex committee led by Shri @svembu for their meticulous and sincere efforts towards implementing Centers of Excellence (CoEs) in AI in our top academic institutions. I am also grateful to Hon’ble PM @narendramodi ji for his vision to establish India as a global hub of AI. I am confident that these 3 CoEs in AI will give further impetus to the start-up ecosystem in our country, help create a new generation of job and wealth creators, and establish new paradigms of global public good."
In another post, he wrote,'' the 3 COEs in AI will emerge as temples of global public good! With the unveiling of AI CoE in healthcare led by @iitdelhi & @aiims_newdelhi, AI CoE in agriculture led by @iitrpr
and AI CoE in sustainable cities led by @IITKanpur, we have taken significant strides in strengthening Bharat’s credentials in the global AI landscape. The talent and zeal that Bharat is blessed with, in the times ahead, these CoEs will be a key element of global public policy and also emerge as solution-providers of the world.''
''The 3 CoEs in AI—‘healthcare, agriculture and sustainable cities’, will democratise AI innovations and research to revolutionise healthcare delivery, strengthen food security and address critical urban challenges. These COEs led by our top academic institutions will strengthen India’s AI capabilities and power the growth of India’s AI ecosystem,'' the minister wrote in his third post.
