With the rapid growth of AI investments in the country and a thriving talent pool, the COEs will play a crucial role in further boosting India’s AI capabilities.
NEW DELHI: In her recent budget 2023-24 speech, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced the government’s plan to set up three Centers of Excellence (COEs) for artificial intelligence (AI) in top educational institutions in India. These COEs will be aimed at developing cutting-edge AI solutions in key sectors such as agriculture, health, and sustainable cities.
The government has identified the need to make AI work for India and is taking steps to create a supportive ecosystem for AI development. The COEs will be a major part of this effort, as they will bring together leading industry players and educational institutions to conduct interdisciplinary research and develop new AI applications and scalable solutions.
The government has been advocating the use of AI across various sectors and has been working to make resources in AI and natural language processing (NLP) available to startups and academia through the Digital India Bhashini portal. In May 2020, the government also set up an AI portal in collaboration with NASSCOM, a leading industry body, and later organized the RAISE event to help AI startups showcase their products and raise funds.
The AI portal has been a major source of information and a platform for AI-related developments by the government, academia, and industry. According to the Economic Survey 2022-23, the portal has published over 1,700 articles, 829 news items, 276 videos, 127 research reports, and 120 government initiatives related to AI. The government is also working to build a large database of anonymized non-personal data for Indian companies and startups working on AI projects.
The Indian AI market has been growing rapidly, with investments growing at a compound annual growth rate of 30.8% to reach $881 million in 2021, according to a report by NASSCOM. The report also stated that the adoption of AI with a data utilization strategy could add $500 billion to India’s GDP by 2025. The country is also a major supplier of AI talent, producing 16% of the world’s AI talent pool, according to a report by Bain & Company.
The establishment of COEs for AI in India has been welcomed by the industry as it will provide a boost to AI skill development in the country. The industry sees this as a major step in creating a supportive ecosystem for AI development and nurturing quality human resources in the field.
Final words, the Indian government’s plan to set up COEs for AI in top educational institutions is a major step in making AI work for India. The COEs will bring together leading industry players and educational institutions to develop new AI solutions and create a supportive ecosystem for AI development. With a rapidly growing AI market and a strong talent pool, India is poised to make significant contributions to the field of AI in the coming years.
Copy Right @ India CSR
