21Feb 2018
The Government of Telangana signed an MoU with the National Association of Software & Services Companies (NASSCOM) to establish a Centre of Excellence for Data Science and Artificial Intelligence (CoE – DS & AI) in the State, on the sidelines of NASSCOM India Leadership Forum being held in the city. To be established on a public-private partnership model, the CoE is the most recent addition to NASSCOM’s ‘hub-and-spoke’ network of CoEs across major locations in the country, aimed at evangelizing new and emerging technologies. With an initial joint investment of Rs. 40 Crore, the CoE will catalyze the growth of the deep tech ecosystem in Telangana, by providing the stimulus for innovation and in-depth research in the areas of data science and artificial intelligence.
Leveraging its partner and member ecosystem, NASSCOM will work to enable industry-oriented research, augment citizen-centric solutions, promote data-driven decision making, enhance academic capacities, and support appropriate skills building and talent development through the CoE. 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 the cutting-edge areas of data science and artificial intelligence. It will provide high-end technology, field expertise, and curated programs to augment capabilities across academia, enterprises, government, innovators and advanced start-ups.
Speaking on the occasion, Sri KT Rama Rao, Hon’ble Minister for IT, Industries, MA & UD, NRI Affairs said, “Hyderabad is emerging as an attractive location to global technology companies. State government had introduced special IT Policy and taken up T-Hub for encouraging start-ups. The first phase of the T-Hub had already earned the reputation of being the largest incubator in the country. Government of Telangana realizes the opportunities the newer technologies present and laid the foundation of a Data Analytics Park to tap the innovation and employment opportunities in this rising sector. Telangana will be the first State in India to bring Artificial Intelligence in Public Health Screening and we are excited about how technology has the potential to make great social impact. The Government is keen to create a robust Data Science & Artificial Intelligence ecosystem for the various stakeholders to thrive, by providing support, mentorship, and other capabilities. This Centre of Excellence, in partnership with NASSCOM and the industry, is in the direction for developing Telangana and India as global hub for DS & AI in the coming years.”
Sharing his thoughts, Mr. R Chandrashekhar, President, NASSCOM, said “India is now on its next growth curve, led by disruptive technologies like data sciences and AI. The vision behind this CoE is to consolidate and streamline efforts in this space by building state-of-the-art infrastructure to amplify the impact that India can indigenously create. With the opportunities that digital technologies present, this CoE-DS and AI is strategically placed to provide data-backed solutions to critical and complex problems across the country and globe.”
Data science and artificial intelligence technologies allow harnessing complex, high volume, high speed data into insights for decision making, emerging as the one of biggest growth opportunities for India to capitalize on. In recent times, artificial intelligence has emerged from the confines of scientific labs and found various uses to impact everyday life. It has found applications across industries – financial services, automotive, healthcare, and retail, to name a few. It is expected that the data science and artificial intelligence industry in India (IT and non-IT industries) will be worth US $16 billion by 2025, and is likely to spur an additional employment of 1,50,000 professionals in the country.