Hyderabad to get an Artificial Intelligence research hub

Hyderabad is set to get Artificial Intelligence facilities - A Centre for Research in Applied Artificial Intelligence (CRiAA), an R&D Park, a Centre of Excellence and others. The Telangana government on Thursday signed eight Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) of understanding with various companies and institutions like Intel, International Institute of Information Technology (IIIT) Hyderabad and Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI) for the CRiAA.

Information Technology Minister KT Rama Rao said the state’s primary goals were to attract and enable over 200 AI innovators and start-ups to build their base in Hyderabad, educate and attract top AI talent from across the globe to work on critical areas as determined by the industry and government. “Another goal is to enable government and key industry verticals to leverage AI and deliver public transformation contributing an additional 1 per cent to Telangana GDP,” he reportedly said, in a statement.

Under another MoU, the NVIDIA will reportedly partner with the state government to set up a High-Performance AI Computing (HPAIC) Centre. They will also assist in startup incubation, and host AI training sessions to support women and minority groups, officials said.

It is said to focus on diagnostics, proactive public health, health services optimisation, evidence-based social strategy and policy, treatment protocols discovery and smart mobility, advanced safety, autonomous navigation, traffic management and smart cities and other areas.

There is also a plan to launch an R&D Park and an AI-CoE, in association with IIT Kharagpur, with applications in advanced manufacturing, life-sciences and aerospace and defence. An MoU was signed with the Applied Cluster of AI, Norway, to design student and faculty exchange programme with the premier universities of Norway, and soft landing programmes for Hyderabad startups to get access to Scandinavian markets.

Another MoU with signed with Wadhwani AI under which it will deploy AI solutions for the benefit of expecting mothers and newborn babies. WAI solution will also be used for agriculture. It will also advise Telangana on using AI to solve complex social development challenges.

*Edited from an IANS report.