3 AI centers of excellence will inspire ordinary youth to dream of becoming billionaires: Dharmendra Pradhan

NEW DELHI: The three centres of excellence will inspire the ordinary youngsters of the country to dream of becoming billionaires, said Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan while launching the artificial intelligence (ai) centres in healthcare, agriculture, and sustainable cities. The centres will prove as solution-givers for public policy and the nutrition challenges in African countries, the minister said while addressing the event. He congratulated the stakeholders and participants on the launch of the CoEs.

The AI centre of excellence on healthcare, led by IIT Delhi and AIIMS Delhi aims to focus on early disease prediction, diagnostics, and pandemic tracking. It will support trials and data collection for healthcare, including AYUSH medicines while addressing challenges related to affordability, quality, and access. The centre on agriculture, led by IIT Ropar aims to transform farming practices by leveraging data on crop yields, weather, and local conditions. By integrating traditional knowledge with modern scientific insights, it will provide AI-driven, real-time guidance on sowing, harvesting, and crop health.

The centre on sustainable cities, led by IIT Kanpur will leverage artificial intelligence for smart city planning, traffic management, and efficient resource distribution. By integrating data from sensors, GIS maps, and satellite feeds, it will predict resource needs and enhance public space design. With shared infrastructure across Agriculture, Health, and Sustainable Cities the CoEs will further optimize costs and resources.

Startup ecosystem, innovation

Pradhan commended the country’s higher education institutions, noting that whether they are central, state, or philanthropic organizations, there is no shortage of talent. "Three centers will cultivate a new type of startup ecosystem, inspiring ordinary young people to dream of becoming billionaires,” the minister noted.

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The minister shared a story wherein he met a disabled youngster at the research park of the IIT Gandhinagar who showed him a little ai model. An IIT Kharagpur student, hailing from Allahabad, he innovated a device the size of a mobile phone. The student explained that upon scanning the machine on a fruit or a vegetable, it will provide the quality of the food through data processing. When the minister asked about the applications of the device, he was told that the device can be used in fruit and vegetables markets for a quality-check.

Research, innovation, new technology, affordable solutions, and social service have been the mission of India, Dharmendra Pradhan said and added that he considers the event a Nobel laureate conference which will give solutions to global problems.

3 AI centres of excellence

To realize the vision of "Viksit Bharat," 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 galvanize an effective AI ecosystem and nurture quality human resources in these critical fields.

As part of the vision to "Make AI in India and Make AI work for India," the establishment of these centres was announced under Union budget 2023. In alignment with this, the union government has approved the creation of the three AI CoEs, with a total financial outlay of Rs 990 crore.

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To oversee the implementation of this initiative, an industry-heavy apex committee has been formed, co-chaired by Sridhar Vembu, founder and CEO of Zoho Corporation.

Sanjay Murthy, secretary of higher education, directors of IITs, heads of higher educational institutions (HEIs), industry leaders, start-up founders and senior officials from various ministries participated in the event.