Union Minister of State (Independent Representative) for Science and Technology; Minister of State (Independent Representative) for Earth Sciences; MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh said that the government has taken many effective steps in terms of development and effective use of artificial intelligence (AI), data science and research and development for science and technology .In a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha, Dr Jitendra Singh said that the Department of Science and Technology (DST) is setting up National Mission Interdisciplinary Cyber Physics Systems (NMICPS) with a budget outlay of Rs. 3,660.00 crore for a period of 5 years.
As part of the implementation of the mission, 25 Technology Innovation Centers (TIH) have been set up in reputed institutions across the country in the field of advanced technology. The goal of the mission is the development of technological platforms for conducting research and development, translational research, product development, incubation and support of start-ups, as well as commercialization. The mission is implemented with all TIH activities in the following four main categories, i.e.
1. Technology development,
2. Human resource development
3. Business development
4. International cooperation.
Further, the DST has successful schemes in operation to strengthen and develop basic research and development infrastructure for science and technology in universities and other higher education institutions. Various programs of DST, namely the Fund for the Improvement of Scientific and Technical Infrastructure in Universities and Colleges (FIST), Support for University Research and Scientific Excellence (PURSE), Sophisticated Analytical Instruments (SAIF), Sophisticated Analytical and Technical Assistance Institute (SATHI) work to develop and effective use of AI, Data Science and R&D.
The Department of Biotechnology (DBT) supports projects for the application of “Artificial Intelligence (AI)”. Projects are also supported under the redesigned Biotechnology Information Systems Network (BTISNet) to establish bioinformatics and computing centers involving data-driven research, artificial intelligence applications, machine learning, high-performance data-driven informatics, etc., in various life sciences sectors.DBT is also implementing the “MANAV: Human Atlas Initiative” program, which aims to create a comprehensive and integrated map of the human by assimilating all known macro- and micro-level information from the scientific literature and public databases.
DST and National Science Foundation (NSF), USA have collaborated to invite proposals for collaborative research on critical and emerging technologies such as Data Analytics and Predictive Technologies. Various national and international grand challenges, hackathons, workshops etc. are held from time to time under TIH’s Business Development and Human Resource Development components established under NM-ICPS to attract the scientific community to develop and commercialize their research work.
The Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC), a public sector undertaking, set up by DBT has also taken many effective steps for the development and effective use of AI, Data Science and R&D for Science & Technology. A recent Grand Challenges India (GCI) call was launched on July 3, 2022 to invite applications to provide innovative data analytics solutions to improve maternal and child health in the Indian context.
BIRAC in collaboration with the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM), GCI and other partners have announced a special call for proposals under the Amrit Grand Challenge in Telemedicine, Digital Healthtech, mHealth using Big Data, Blockchain, AI/Machine Learning (ML) and other technologies to strengthen India’s healthcare ecosystem. BIRAC’s BioNEST incubators provide incubation and mentoring support to startups and entrepreneurs working in the field of AI & Data Science. MieTY and NASSCOM have jointly launched a program called Future Skills PRIME – a B2C framework for reskilling/up-skilling IT professionals in 10 emerging areas, including cloud computing and artificial intelligence.
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