In order to facilitate growth in Artificial Intelligence and Data Sciences space and to provide jobs in these emerging technologies, the government of Telangana has partnered with industry body Nasscom to set up a Centre of Excellence for Data Sciences and Artificial Intelligence (CoE – DS and AI).
This announcement was made on the sidelines of the World Congress IT and Nasscom India Leadership Forum that is being held in Hyderabad.
The CoE that is intended to come up in a month’s time in the campus of International Institute of Information Technology (IIIT) Hyderabad will incur a joint investment of Rs. 40 crore. Later on, the centre will be shifted to the IT Park that is set to come up Budwel that will be operational next year.
The memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed in the presence of Telangana IT Minister KT Rama Rao by Telangana IT Principal Secretary Jayesh Ranjan and Nasscom President R Chandrashekhar.
Speaking about the partnership, Ranjan said, “We had mentioned about the CoE in our sectoral policy on AI and Data Analytics and this partnership is an extension of that policy. This is the first CoE with Nasscom which will be temporarily housed in IIIT Hyderabad campus and later shifted to the IT Park in Budwel. The centre will add value to the technological prowess of Hyderabad and Telangana.”
Elaborating on the need for such a centre, the Minister said that Data today has 3V problem – volume, variety and velocity. While there are huge volumes of data available, there are a variety of data sets available and the speed at which data is changing is also posing a problem, he added that in such a scenario it is important to make something meaningful out of the data available.
“While on the one hand, CoE will provide opportunities for startups and companies working in this space, on the other hand it will lead to generation of largescale employment opportunities for students and young people. Our government has started leveraging the huge data available by linking Rs. 38 crore-worth of records across sectors,” Rama Rao said.
The CoE will serve as a platform for intelligence-sharing and technology collaboration between stakeholders, to build collective capabilities for the industry and country in Data Sciences and AI. It is the most recent addition to the hub-and-spoke network of CoEs that Nasscom is setting up across major locations in India. It will provide stimulus for innovation and research in these areas.
Nasscom president R Chandrashekhar said, “This centre will play a huge role to strengthen the capabilities of India in the AI and DS space. It will connect our member companies to connect with local resources like the reputed academic institutions that Hyderabad houses. And they can add and abstract value from the CoE. It will encourage entrepreneurs to build solutions using the capabilities of CoE that will in turn connect them to mentors and experts.”
Meanwhile, Fractal Analytics co-founder Srikanth Velamakanni said, “This CoE will enable India to ride on the path of becoming the top 3 destination for AI and DS.”
Source: Telangana Today