Govt Plans Multiple Institutions To Improve Governance, Support Data Centre Parks

At a time when organisations around the world are incorporating emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), internet-of-things (IoT), machine learning (ML), among others in their operations to enhance their value chains, the Indian government is now also looking at these technologies to help Indian startups become more efficient.

In the Union Budget 2020, the government of India had recently proposed setting up of data centre parks throughout the country to foster innovations in data analytics and promote cloud adoption among startups and SMEs. While these parks are yet to be built, the ministry of electronics and information technology (MeitY), in partnership with National Informatics Centre and National Informatics Centre Services Inc (NICSI), has set up a centre of excellence for data analytics (CEDA). CEDA has been given with the responsibility to help government departments leverage data points generated as a part of the governance processes, and harness this data it to improve governance metrics and service delivery.

The government had also launched a National Mission on Interdisciplinary Cyber-Physical Systems (NM-ICPS) programme to establish technology innovation hubs in AI, IoT, 3D printing, quantum computing, among others. For this programme, the government is planning to invest INR 3,660 Cr for a period of five years, Members of Parliament said in Lok Sabha on Wednesday (March 4).

These hubs will work to promote the development of these technologies, translational research and commercialisation of new technologies, accelerate entrepreneurship, and startup ecosystem development in these new technologies.

Also, MeitY has been establishing various other CoEs across the country to promote startups using emerging technologies such as IoT, A), augmented reality/virtual reality (AR/VR), data analytics, among others.

These centres connect various stakeholders such as startups, enterprises, venture capitalists, government and academia to work on various problem areas and develop solutions based on new-age technologies.

Last year, the government of India had launched Technology Incubation and Development of Entrepreneurs (TIDE 2.0) to promote entrepreneurship. Under TIDE 2.0, the government is providing financial and technical support to incubators which are supporting the growth and development of startups leveraging new-age technologies.

TIDE 2.0 aims to empower around 2000 tech startups which are going to help India’s socio-economic growth. The programme will be implemented through 51 incubators which will be set up at prominent educational institutions and research and development organisations. MeitY is also planning to digitally map innovative products by small entrepreneurs and artisans in villages across India.