Nagpur: Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on Sunday said India’s next major artificial intelligence (AI) breakthrough could emerge from Nagpur, asserting that universities must rapidly realign teaching and research with AI, quantum computing and semiconductor technologies as technological disruption accelerates globally.Launching the ‘AI Centre of Competency’ powered by global AI computing giant NVIDIA, set up by Ramdeobaba University and gracing the university’s academic inauguration Gyanodaya 2026, Fadnavis said the coming decade would be shaped by frontier technologies and institutions that fail to adapt risk becoming irrelevant.Highlighting the role of universities in technological advancement, Fadnavis said nearly 90% of global innovations originated in academia rather than industry. Referring to Ramdeobaba University’s startup ecosystem, he said the new AI facility should become a launchpad for commercially viable deep-tech innovations from Central India.He expressed confidence that the university’s AI ecosystem could produce the next major innovation from Nagpur, Vidarbha and Central India.Reiterating a message he delivered earlier this year at Maharashtra Gyan Sabha 2026 at Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology (VNIT), Fadnavis said India could not afford to miss another technological revolution after lagging in previous industrial transformations. He said the AI, semiconductor and quantum computing era offered the country an opportunity to emerge as a global technology leader.Fadnavis said the pace of technological change had become unprecedented. “While the first three industrial revolutions were separated by nearly a century each, the world had already moved from Industry 4.0 to discussions around the sixth industrial revolution within a little over a decade,” he said.Citing discussions with AI experts, Fadnavis said nearly 75% of existing jobs could undergo significant transformation within 1,000 days, clarifying that jobs may not disappear but the skills required for them would change substantially. At VNIT in April, he had pegged the job transformation volume at 60%.Fadnavis said Maharashtra govt’s AI-powered agriculture platform Mahavistar enables farmers to seek crop advice in their own language, identify pest attacks by uploading crop photographs, receive weather-linked advisories and optimise input usage. According to him, the platform has reduced cultivation costs by about 25% while improving productivity by 25-30%.CM was felicitated by Satyanarayan Nuwal, chairman, Shri Ramdeobaba Sarvajanik Samiti (SRSS). Fadnavis felicitated John Samuel and his team from FortRise representing NVIDIA in recognition of their contribution to establishing the AI Centre of Competency. Rajendra Purohit, Ramdeobaba University vice chancellor RS Pande and director academics MB Chandak were present.CM speaksAI transforming healthcare, biotechnology, robotics, manufacturing and agricultureMaharashtra’s Mahavistar AI platform enables multilingual crop advisory, pest detection through photographs and weather-linked recommendationsGovt claims Mahavistar has reduced cultivation costs by ~25% and improved productivity by 25-30%Data has become more valuable than oil; AI models built on data can drive industry and public-good applicationsAround 90% of innovations globally originate from universities; academia should lead India’s deep-tech ecosystemAI Centre of Competence should help Ramdeobaba University develop commercially viable AI innovations and startups
