Karnataka in race to get AI centre of excellence

Karnataka is likely to get one of India’s three Centres of Excellence in Artificial Intelligence (AI) that was announced in the Union Budget, in line with the BJP’s “double-engine” narrative that it is pushing in the poll-bound state.

The 2023-24 Union Budget said three AI centres will be set up in top educational institutions. The centres will see industry players help with interdisciplinary research and development of cutting-edge applications in agriculture, health and sustainable cities.

“Karnataka can certainly expect a Centre of Excellence in AI,” Union Minister of State for Electronics and IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar, who represents Karnataka in the Rajya Sabha, told DH. “Karnataka government has already applied for it. I am inclined to ensure Karnataka gets it,” he said. The centres come under the IndiaAI programme that Chandrasekhar’s ministry is designing.

Also Read | ICMR comes up with first ethical guidelines for application of AI in biomedical research, healthcare

He said American microprocessor engineer Jim Keller — whom he referred to as the “God of AI” — has set up a startup in Whitefield to do “next-gen AI compute chips”.

He said this to cite an example on technology opportunities in India.

Chandrasekhar is also betting big on the National Data Governance Framework Policy, which awaits the Union Cabinet’s approval. “Under the policy, anonymised non-personal data will be available to Indian companies, startups and research organisations. It will fully transform AI. It will be a game changer for AI. It will be the largest collection of the most diverse datasets in the world,” he said, specifying that foreign companies will not be given access to Indian datasets.

The “double-engine” factor will be advantageous to Karnataka in the electronics space, Chandrasekhar hopes.

Last week, the Union government approved the Electronics Manufacturing Cluster in Dharwad, which is expected to attract investments worth Rs 1,500 crore and create 18,000 jobs.

“The China+1 policy means we’ll be doing a lot of manufacturing. Only Tamil Nadu used to be the manufacturing hub, but it has grown to Noida and now Karnataka,” Chandrasekhar said. “Karnataka was in a close fight with Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. Given the double-engine government, Karnataka is growing,” he said.

If Chandrasekhar has his way, Karnataka will also get a satellite campus of the India Semiconductor Research Centre (ISRC) on the outskirts of Bengaluru.

India is also wooing tech giant Apple. “We want to convince Apple to make India their home. They have already made Tamil Nadu their home and a part of Karnataka (in Kolar through contract manufacturer Wistron). The single-largest plant of iPhones in India will be in Devanahalli,” Chandrasekhar said, referring to the proposed Foxconn plant.