The Centre Govt on Tuesday approved Rs 990 crore for the creation of three artificial intelligence (AI) Centres of Excellence (CoE) focused on healthcare, agriculture, and sustainable cities in New Delhi.
The government approved the total financial outlay of Rs 990 crore over the period of FY 2023-24 to FY 2027-28.
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Union Minister for Education Dharmendra Pradhan, who announced the establishment of these AI-CoEs, expressed his gratitude to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his vision to establish India as a global hub of AI.
He also mentioned that these CoEs in AI will give further impetus to the start-up ecosystem in the country, help create a new generation of job and wealth creators, and establish new paradigms of global public good.
As part of the vision to “Make AI in India and Make AI work for India,” the establishment of these centres was announced under Para 60 of the Budget Announcement for 2023-24.
To realize the vision of “Viksit Bharat,” the ministry mentioned that these three CoEs for AI will be led by top educational institutions, in consortium with industry partners and startups.
“They will conduct interdisciplinary research, develop cutting-edge applications, and create scalable solutions in these three areas. This initiative aims to galvanise an effective AI ecosystem and nurture quality human resources in these critical fields,” the ministry noted.
The Union Education Minister also said that with 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”.
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He complimented the apex committee led by the Founder and CEO of Zoho Corporation Sridhar Vembu for their meticulous and sincere efforts towards the implementation of these COEs in AI in the top academic institutions of the country.
To supervise the implementation of this initiative, an industry-heavy Apex Committee has been constituted, co-chaired by Vembu.