A Centre of Excellence (CoE) for Data Science and Artificial Intelligence to support product development, research in the areas as well as mine tonnes of government data to aid in policy making will come up in the city soon.
One of its kind, the facility on a public-private partnership model took the first step towards becoming a reality on Tuesday with Telangana government and the National Association of Software & Services Companies (Nasscom) signing an MoU for it.
Nasscom president R. Chandrashekhar, who exchanged the documents with IT Secretary Jayesh Ranjan in the presence of IT Minister K.T.Rama Rao, said the CoE – DS & AI would promote growth of start-ups and encourage more entrepreneurs to build products and solutions using these technologies. The idea is to support them through mentorship, access to funding, international connects and connections with large companies.
The CoE, which he expected would be established within a couple of months, would also connect with various resources, be it academic or research institutions. The initial, joint investment is to be ₹40 crore.
Mr.Ranjan, who described the MoU as a milestone, said initially the facility is to be based out of IIIT-Hyderabad. Eventually, it would be shifted to the upcoming IT park in Budhwel that the government is developing. The MoU was signed on the sidelines of Nasscom India Leadership Forum being held in the city.
Data science and AI industry in India is estimated to be $16 billion by 2025, said Mr. Rama Rao. A release from Nasscom said it is likely to spur an additional employment of 150,000 professionals in the country.
Cyber Security CoE
Mr.Chandrashekhar said Nasscom is also looking at Hyderabad for the proposed CoE on Cyber Security. “We have worked out a proposal... had an initial discussion [with the State government],” he said.
The immediate task of the CoE – DS & AI promoters would be identify a CEO for the facility.
