Govt selects four premier institutes to lead AI Centers of Excellence

AIIMS Delhi, IIT Delhi, IIT Kanpur and IIT Ropar have been selected to spearhead India's Centers of Excellence (CoE) in Artificial Intelligence, focusing on health, sustainable cities and agriculture, respectively, Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan informed Parliament on Tuesday.

These centres will operate as consortiums, bringing together leading academic and research institutes with industry partners and startups, Chouhan said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha.

The collaborative network includes prestigious institutions like IIT Madras, IIT Hyderabad, IIT Bombay, IIT Tirupati, IIT Guwahati, IIT Gandhinagar, IISc Bangalore, IIIT Hyderabad, AIIMS Patna, NIT Meghalaya, NIT Hamirpur and NIT Calicut.

The selection process was conducted through rigorous evaluation by an Apex Committee, comprising industry experts, AI specialists, academicians and ministry representatives.

The initiative, which comes under the government's "Make AI in India and make AI work for India" vision, has been allocated a total financial outlay of Rs 990 crore over the period 2023-24 to 2027-28.