T’puram: The MeitY IndiaAI Centre of Excellence in Artificial Intelligence, Thiruvananthapuram, will be formally launched on Wednesday, marking an initiative to strengthen Kerala’s applied AI ecosystem and contribute to India’s indigenous AI capabilities. Industries, IT and AI minister P K Kunhalikutty will inaugurate the Centre.The Centre is being established under the IndiaAI Mission of the Union Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) and the state govt’s department of electronics and information technology. Digital University is the implementing agency, with Innovation Incubator Advisory Pvt Ltd as the industry partner.The launch will also see the announcement of the Centre’s first cohort of 15 AI startups selected under its pre-incubation, incubation and acceleration programmes. The startups work across healthcare and MedTech, climate and AgriTech, legal technology, enterprise and document AI, industrial applications, Edge AI and intelligent-camera technologies.The Centre’s initial focus areas include healthcare and geriatrics, disaster management, climate and sustainability, e-governance and public utilities. It plans to work with govt departments and public institutions to identify applications where responsible AI can improve public services, administrative processes and infrastructure.Based at Kabani, Technopark Phase IV (Technocity), the Centre will provide startups and researchers access to infrastructure, compute and GPU facilities, mentorship, technical expertise, datasets, research networks, investors and pilot opportunities.The Centre will also seek to connect govt, academia, research institutions, industry, startups and investors, with an emphasis on moving AI research and experimentation towards deployable products and public-sector applications.The inaugural programme will feature an innovation and startup expo and panel discussions on AI in healthcare and the future of AI-enabled Kerala. The Centre’s website and identity will also be unveiled, while selection letters will be presented to the first cohort of startups.
