Google and NITI Aayog partner to enrich India's AI Ecosystem
The National Institution for Transforming India (NITI) Aayog and Google have joined hands to work on several initiatives to develop the artificial intelligence (AI) ecosystem across the country. The Indian government has entrusted its think tank - NITI Aayog - to set up a national programme to conduct research and development in leading technologies such as AI and Machine Learning (ML). Here's more.
Google India and NITI Aayog signed a statement of intent
Google, NITI Aayog will collaborate on various initiatives and programs
Both NITI Aayog and Google aim to foster the AI ecosystem by conducting training programs and supporting Indian start-ups. They will also award grants and scholarships to researchers and scholars for conducting cutting-edge research in the field of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML). Moreover, they will also organize training for relevant government functionaries on open source AI tools.
Google will train students, engineers with its courses on AI
In the form of study groups and developer-run courses, the tech giant will also bring its online training courses on AI to students, graduates and engineers in several cities across India. Google already has a set of educational resources including a free online ML crash-course.
Under the program, Google will also incubate Indian AI start-ups
Further, Google will also train and mentor Indian AI start-ups in an accelerator programme to help them better leverage AI in their businesses. Globally, Google has been empowering researchers, businesses, and developers with its suite of products/tools such as open-source machine learning framework TensorFlow, custom-built machine learning chips TPUs, and Cloud AI - to help them solve complex problems with machine learning.
AI and ML hackathon also part of the program's roadmap
Under the aegis of the programme, Google and NITI Aayog will also organize an Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning hackathon which will focus on solving key challenges within different industry verticals such as agriculture, education, health-care, financial inclusion, transportation, and mobility.