The Government of Karnataka on Friday announced the launch of a Centre of Excellence for Data Science and Artificial Intelligence (CoE-DS&AI), with NASSCOM as its program and implementation partner. To be established with an estimated investment of ₹40 crore, the CoE will its first-of-its-kind port based on a public-private partnership model, and will accelerate the ecosystem in Karnataka by providing the impetus for the development of data science and artificial intelligence across the country.
NASSCOM, through its partner ecosystem will work towards accelerating innovation, enabling industry-oriented research, promoting adoption of data-driven decision making by enterprises and enabling appropriate skills and talent development. This proposal has evinced great interest for the industry to collaborate and build collective capabilities for the industry and country in the cutting-edge area of Data Science and Artificial Intelligence. The Centre of Excellence will provide high-end technology capabilities, data, expertise, thought leadership, and curated programs to augment capabilities across academia, enterprises, government, and innovators / advanced start-ups.
Speaking on the occasion, Shri Priyank Kharge, Minister for IT, BT and Tourism, Government of Karnataka, said, “Karnataka has led the IT revolution in India and has always been at the forefront in areas of science and information technology. Our Government has played the key role for Karnataka to be known as the start-up capital in the country through NASSCOM by establishing India’s first start-up warehouse. Karnataka, recognized the importance of IoT and provided the necessary support to NASSCOM for establishing India’s first CoE for IoT. Data Science and Artificial Intelligence is a capability which will determine the future of corporations and governments alike. This Centre of Excellence for Data Science and Artificial Intelligence will be a catalyst for the growth of data science and artificial intelligence, and provide a head-start to, not just the state, but India as a destination to develop global products and solutions.”
The CoE aims to position Karnataka as one amongst the top five global innovation centers AI over the next five years. The center will set the strategic direction, provide technology infrastructure and promote investment into research and innovation of cutting-edge DS and AI solutions, proliferate data-driven decision making by enterprises and government, and enhance capacities of academic institutions to impart DS and AI education.
Sharing his thoughts, Mr. R Chandrashekhar, President, NASSCOM, said “Businesses across the globe are undergoing rapid changes propelled by digital disruption. Considering the opportunity that emerging digital technologies that will provide in times to come, this CoE-DS&AI is strategically placed to provide data-backed solutions to many complex problems of the world. NASSCOM and its industry members are currently engaged in defining the future of job in the digital transformation era and such an initiative from Government of Karnataka is a welcome step in the right direction. NASSCOM is happy to work with Government of Karnataka and its partners to establish the CoE and is confident that this centre will position India as a disruptor in the space”. NASSCOM will also evangelize such a program across the country to supplement India’s vision to be leader in the digital economy.
R Chandrasekhar also announced that the initiative has received overwhelming response from its industry partners. IBM, Intel, Digital Ocean, and NVIDIA have in-principle agreed to support this program. NASSCOM is also in dialogue with other partners to this Centre of Excellence.
Data science and artificial intelligence technologies allows 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. This technology is also transforming the IT-BPM industry – AI-led automation is likely to deliver USD 100-120 billion in net productivity-led gains for IT-BPM service providers by 2025.
