New Delhi, February 26 The Delhi government has sent a proposal to the Centre to set up two AI centers of excellence to promote research and development in artificial intelligence (AI), officials said on Thursday.
The proposed centers would be established at the Netaji Subhas University of Technology (NSUT) and Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University – both Delhi government institutions, they said.
"We have not yet received a response from the central government regarding the proposal. Once the proposal is approved, we will move forward to establish a tripartite agreement involving the Centre, the concerned universities, and the Delhi government," said a senior Delhi government official.
The proposal was submitted recently to the Centre under the India AI Mission, he said. The India AI Mission was launched by the Government of India in March 2024, with an outlay of Rs 10,372 crore, aiming to build a strong AI ecosystem in the country over a period of five years.
The Centre invited proposals from the states for establishing AI centers in January this year. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) invited proposals to set up Centers of Excellence (CoE) for artificial intelligence, aiming to spread AI innovation across the country.
The initiative marks an effort to develop AI hubs across the country, covering fields such as healthcare, agriculture, and infrastructure, among others.
The Centre will provide financial assistance to the states where these AI centers will be established, utilizing the India AI Mission corpus. These state AI centers of excellence will complement the existing centers of excellence established at Delhi, Ropar, and Kanpur IITs, officials said.
The Information Technology (IT) department of the Delhi government is promoting various digital initiatives and policy frameworks, including the formulation of an IT Policy, which will focus on AI as one of the key areas for innovation-driven growth, officials added.
