Centres of Excellence (CoE) are places where companies can produce a strong competitive edge over AI. CoEs make adopting AI practices easier in an organisation and help form a structure for scaling and maintaining these processes.
Even during the pandemic, India retained itself as a favourable hub for establishing CoEs and innovation centres for AI.
Analytics India Magazine collates the AI CoEs and innovation hubs that were launched in India in 2021.
GJSCI
The Gem & Jewellery Skills Council of India (GJSCI) in August launched a Centre of Excellence (CoE) for Jewellery AI & Data-science Excellence (JADE) along with IIT-Bombay and Persistent Systems. The tech company and the institute will also help in the integration of AI, ML and data science techniques into gem and jewellery. The CoE aims to address the challenges of the supply chain of India’s gems and jewellery industry. The technology integration will help minimise rejections, improve the current poor hit ratio of designs, deliver high market returns and increase efficiencies.
IIT-Kanpur
Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, announced in June that they would form a Centre of Excellence in Artificial Intelligence & Innovation-Driven Entrepreneurship (AIIDE) at their Noida outreach campus. The UP-state cabinet cleared the proposal under the UP-Start-up Policy 2020. This centre was formed in association with FICCI (Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry), which provides industry tie-ups and business connect. The CoE planned and focused sectors including cybersecurity, AI, IoT, and AR for development and even provided assistance to 50 startups each year.
Hubballi
The minister for IT/BT, Science and Technology, and Higher Education of Karnataka announced in October the opening of a centre of excellence (CoE) for AI and Data Engineering in Hubballi. This CoE was to be a part of the Karnataka Digital Economy Mission under the Beyond Bengaluru programme. The CoE aims at facilitating graduating startups to grow further.
Kotak-IISc AI-ML Centre
The Indian Institute of Science (IISc) in September set up a state-of-the-art Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning (AI-ML) Centre in association with Kotak Mahindra Bank Limited (KMBL) at the IISc Bangalore campus. The centre that is called Kotak-IISc AI-ML Centre offers Bachelor’s, Master’s, and short-term courses in AI, ML and deep learning, reinforcement learning, and Fintech. The centre also aims to promote innovation in AI and ML to develop a talent pool that can meet the industry’s emerging requirements.
AJNIFM
In July, the Arun Jaitley National Institute of Financial Management (AJNIFM), Haryana, in collaboration with Microsoft, formed a strategic partnership to build an Al and emerging technologies Centre of Excellence. The CoE seeks to explore cloud, Al and emerging technologies for shaping the future of public finance management in India. As part of the skilling effort, public sector officials will receive training on emerging technologies in finance management which will help them to address potential risks like money laundering, the role of responsible tech in finance and the use of machine learning models for decision making.
AI-ALC
In November, KLA Corporation, a US-based semiconductor manufacturing company, launched two facilities in Chennai as part of its expansion into India. The AI-Advanced Computing Lab (AI-ALC) that had been operated in collaboration with the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras was established as a centre of excellence for AI-focused research and development.
The researchers and engineers at AI-ACL worked in collaboration with the AI experts at AI Modeling and Center of Excellence in Michigan and formed a global team to advance research in AI, image processing, software, and physics modelling.
Massive Analytic
In June, Massive Analytic, a UK-based precognition AI company, announced a £1 million investment in India to expand its employee base and build a CoE of AI and ML. This scaling up was led by Pankaj Arora, Lead Big Data Analytics Engineer. Under his guidance, the Massive Analytic India team runs with a focus on health and safety and assists the company to become a leader in medical diagnostics.
Sukanta Academy
In October, Jishnu Dev Burman, Tripura Deputy Chief Minister, inaugurated the State’s first Innovation Hub at the Sukanta Academy. This project was an initiative of the National Council of Science Museums. The hub was expected to open here a few years ago but was delayed due to the pandemic. The hub has been a platform for students to engage in creative and innovative activities.
IIT Mandi
In February, Jai Ram Thakur, Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh, inaugurated the Technology Innovation Hub at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Mandi. The hub was developed with an investment of ₹110 crores. An MoU was also signed between the district administration and IIT Mandi for the development and deployment of the Landslide Monitoring System.
CHARUSAT
In September, Motorola Solutions set up its first research and innovation centre at Changa-based Charotar University of Science and Technology (CHARUSAT), Anand, Gujarat. The centre aims at offering practical opportunities and internships to students at the centre.
Guwahati
Corsight AI, an Israel-based company, signed an MoU with Assam Electronics Development Corporation Limited (AMTRON) in August to develop an Artificial Intelligence Centre of Excellence at a tech city situated near Guwahati. The CoE becomes a place for Corsight AI in assistance with AMTRON to establish a strong Face Recognition Technology Development and Services portfolio.
