Parliament Question: Collaborations through AI Centres of Excellence (AI-CoEs)

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF EDUCATION DEPARTMENT OF HIGHER EDUCATION LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2622 ANSWERED ON- 09/03/2026 Collaborations through AI Centres of Excellence (AI-CoEs) 2622. Dr. Byreddy Shabari: Will the Minister of EDUCATION be pleased to state: (a) the details of collaborations undertaken by AI Centres of Excellence (AI-COEs) with academic institutions, industry partners and start-ups, including those located in the State of Andhra Pradesh; (b) the list of universities, industry partners and start-ups with which the AI-COEs have entered into formal collaborations along with the nature, scope and duration of such partnerships; (c) the details of projects undertaken under such collaborations, including their objectives, sectoral focus such as agriculture, health, logistics, etc., timelines and implementing agencies; (d) the outcomes achieved from such collaborations, including solutions developed, prototypes tested, capacity building, deployments completed and measurable impact thereof; (e) the details of fund provided by the Government along with contributions made by partner, project-wise; and (f) the monitoring and evaluation mechanism adopted by the Government for assessing the performance of AI-COEs and the key policy learnings derived therefrom? ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION (DR. SUKANTA MAJUMDAR) (a) to (f): The Government of India has established four Centres of Excellence (CoEs) in Artificial Intelligence (AI) as part of the vision to "Make AI in India and Make AI work for India" in the areas of Education, Healthcare, Sustainable Cities and Agriculture. These AI-CoEs are being led by IIT Madras, IISc Bangalore, IIT Kanpur and IIT Ropar respectively. The total budget outlay for the four AI-CoEs is 1490 crores. Each AI-CoE is a consortium of leading academic, research institutions along with industry partners and leading start-ups. AI-CoEs represent a collaborative effortbetween the lead institute and other academic institutions such as AIIMS Delhi and Patna, IITs at Delhi, Madras, Bombay, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Gandhinagar and Tirupati; NITs at Calicut, Meghalaya, and Hamirpur; IIIT Hyderabad; etc. These CoEs have undertaken strategic initiatives aligned with their sectoral focus. The AI-CoE for Sustainable Cities has initiated AI-based traffic and flood prediction. Further, a Digital platform has been piloted to streamline municipal services and to integrate citizen feedback, service requests, and urban management into one system. Under the AI-CoE for Healthcare, projects have been initiated to develop AI tools on the detection of various chronic diseases like oral and breast cancer, retinal disease and diabetes. The AI-CoE for Agriculture has deployed Automatic Weather Stations. An Apex Committee; consisting of industry leaders, researchers and senior government officials; conducts periodical review and evaluation of the AI-CoEs. It is supported by a Central Project Monitoring Unit with the help of leading external experts working at the intersection of AI and the respective domain of each CoE. The CPMU and the experts carryout quarterly assessment of each project and recommend course correction. *****