Zoho's Sridhar Vembu To Co-Chair Oversee Committee for 3 AI CoEs

Dharmendra Pradhan to Announce 3 AI-CoE on Healthcare, Agriculture and Sustainable Cities on 15 Oct.'24

Union Minister for Education, Shri Dharmendra Pradhan, will be announcing three AI Centres of Excellence (CoE) focused on Healthcare, Agriculture, and Sustainable Cities on 15th October 2024 in New Delhi.

To realize the vision of "Viksit Bharat," these three CoEs for Artificial Intelligence (AI) will be led by top educational institutions, in consortium with industry partners and startups. They will conduct interdisciplinary research, develop cutting-edge applications, and create scalable solutions in these three areas. This initiative aims to galvanize an effective AI ecosystem and nurture quality human resources in these critical fields.

To oversee the implementation of this initiative, an industry heavy Apex Committee has been constituted, co-chaired by Dr. Sridhar Vembu, Founder and CEO of Zoho Corporation.

As part of the vision to "Make AI in India and Make AI work for India," the establishment of these centres was announced under Para 60 of the Budget Announcement for 2023-24. In alignment with this, the Government has approved the creation of the three AI Centres of Excellence, with a total financial outlay of Rs. 990.00 Cr over the period of FY 2023-24 to FY 2027-28.

Shri K.Sanjay Murthy, Secretary/HE will grace the occasion, along with Directors of IITs, Heads of higher educational institutions (HEIs), industry leaders, start-up founders and senior officials from various ministries of the Government of India.

IIM Sambalpur Receives $2 Mn Funding for Startup Incubation Center on Its 9th Foundation Day

Also Inks Pact with India Accelerator to Promote Entrepreneurship Ecosystem

IIM Sambalpur celebrated its 9th Foundation Day with the Theme: “Accelerating Startup’s Ecosystems”. Mr. Sushant Kumar, ESKYEN Ventures committed fund of 2 million USD to Incubation Centre of IIM Sambalpur to promote start-ups and entrepreneurship. Also an MoU signed between IIM Sambalpur & India Accelerator to build entrepreneurial capacity for the incubates of IIM Sambalpur.

The program was address by Shri. Dharmendra Pradhan, Hon’ble Minister of Education, Skill Development & Entrepreneurship, GoI as the Chief Guest.

During the event, the Chief Guest, Shri Dharmendra Pradhan, Union Education Minister of the Government of India, congratulated IIM Sambalpur on its Ninth Foundation Day through a video message. He praised the alliances and partnerships that IIM Sambalpur has formed with businesses like India Accelerator, SIDBI, and Flipkart, highlighting their importance in fostering entrepreneurs and assisting the livelihoods of local weavers and craftsmen. In his inspirational speech, he urged the students to use innovation, inclusivity, and integrity - the three pillars of IIM Sambalpur - as their compass points in all their activities. He acknowledged that IIM Sambalpur had given them the knowledge and abilities necessary for professional success and urged them to constantly remember their greater purpose, strive for excellence, give back to society, and uphold the values that will cause India to become a developed country by 2047.

The Guest of Honour, Mr. Sushant Kumar, Founder & Principal of ESKEYN Ventures & Indus Capital, USA, underscored the vital role of confidence in early investors like Ram Shriram, who was the first investor in Google and supported Larry Page and Sergey Brin, even during the company's unprofitable years. He shed light on the enormous obstacles that companies must overcome by empathizing with the primary worries that frequently plague them, such as fundraising, loan repayments, and job stability. Additionally, Mr. Kumar revealed major funding for an incubation center at IIM Sambalpur totaling $2 million. He commended the dynamic leadership of Professor Jaiswal and his team, assuring that the project's implementation would commence shortly.

The Keynote Speaker, Mr Hiranmaya Mahanta, CEO, i-HUB Gujarat shared a story of Stanford University's innovative spirit. Stanford got $50,000 from the U.S. State Department's innovation fund when it was established in 1939, but their strategy for fostering innovation made them a force to be reckoned with. In a similar vein, he believed that IIM Sambalpur might take the lead in promoting entrepreneurship and innovation thanks to Dr. Jaiswal's inspirational leadership. The institute, like Stanford University, has a fantastic opportunity to influence the future.

Additionally, he encouraged students to adopt an innovative mindset, take prudent chances, and not be afraid to ask questions.

In the welcome address, Prof. Mahadeo Jaiswal, Director, of IIM Sambalpur stated, "Established on September 23, 2015, within its 8-year journey IIM Sambalpur has carved a niche among the top IIMs. The vision of IIM Sambalpur is to nurture responsible leaders with an entrepreneurial mindset and core values centered around innovation, inclusiveness, and integrity. We are also privileged that Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone of the institute on January 2, 2021. Some achievements in these 8 years include: In 2019, we created history in top B-schools; in 2019, IIM Sambalpur achieved 50 per cent gender diversity, a milestone followed by all IIMs."

He also spoke about the trend in increasing the percentage of non-engineering students in the MBA batch in which IIM Sambalpur emerged as a leader in the country. The director further informed about the three unique projects namely BunkarValleys.com to promote master weavers and artisans, MineralValleys.com to study the value that mines and minerals are creating for the people of Odisha and DigitalValue.com to promote digital leadership in the country and upcoming MoUs.”

Mr Hiranmaya Mahanta, CEO, i-HUB Gujarat graced the event as the Guest of Honour. On the occasion, Mr Arindam Mukhopadhyay, Partner, India Accelerator; Mr. Deepak Sharma, Co-Founder & Managing Partner, India Accelerator and Mr. Bodhisattwa Sanghapriya, Founder and CEO, IG Drones were also present.

On the occasion, the key achievers in different fields were felicitated by the dignitaries. Mr. Amrut Mohanty, CAO I/C gave the vote of thanks. The event concluded with a roundtable discussion on the topic 'Accelerating Startup’s Ecosystems.

NCERT Now Deemed-to-be-University; Edu Minister Suggests AR/VR and AI Labs in 7 Regional NCERT Centres

Last Friday, Union Minister for Education and Skill Development & Entrepreneurship Mr Dharmendra Pradhan, informed that NCERT has been given the status of a Deemed-to-be-University.

The minister, Mr. Pradhan, also inaugurated a new Information and Communication Technology (ICT) laboratory of the Central Institute of Educational Technology (CIET), a constituent unit of NCERT.

Hereafter, the 'deemed university' status will now allow NCERT to offer its own graduate, post-graduate and doctoral degrees and have autonomy in terms of introduction of programmes, course structure, conducting examinations and management, among others.

Established in 1961, NCERT (National Council of Educational Research and Training) has been an autonomous organisation of the Government of India to assist and advise the Central and State Governments on policies and programmes for qualitative improvement in school education.

NCERT on becoming a research university will offer opportunities for global collaborations and contributions to the global educational landscape.

In addition to this, NCERT will also be developing educational material in all 22 languages with the help of software like Anuvadini.

Mr Pradhan also emphasized developing content in mother tongue. Resently, India’s Science & Technology Minister, Dr Jitendra Singh, also informed that Medical education has commenced in Hindi and soon Engineering studies will also begin in Hindi and translation of Engineering books has commenced in eight languages such as Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Gujarati & Bengali, across the country.

Further, Mr Pradhan also suggested setting up Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality and Artificial Intelligence labs in all 7 regional centres of NCERT. To make India the global hub of research and innovation these centres should be equipped with the latest technologies from around the world with future-ready infrastructure, he added.

The Minister also urged NCERT to standardize the Teachers’ training curriculum to NCERT in its Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE).

The Minister also informed that NCERT has developed "Jadui Pitara" — a play-based learning-teaching material tailored for children between the age group of 3-8 years.