IIT-Madras will collaborate with Tamil Nadu e-Governance Agency (TNeGA) to enhance data-driven governance. Through this engagement, the Robert Bosch Centre for Data Science and Artificial Intelligence (RBC DSAI ) at IIT-Madras has agreed to support the State government on various data science and ICT-related challenges.
This will be carried out by working closely with various official branches and entities within the State government. The collaboration is expected to contribute towards various aspects of governance, including (but not limited to) education, healthcare, and agriculture, says a press release from IIT-Madras.
TNeGA is the State nodal agency under the IT department to support and drive all e-governance initiatives of the State government while RBC DSAI is an inter-disciplinary centre for research in AI.
MoU signed
Santhosh K Misra, CEO, Tamil Nadu e-Governance Agency, and Ravindra Gettu, Dean (Industrial Consultancy and Sponsored Research), IIT Madras, signed the memorandum of understanding on behalf of their respective institutions. The MoU was exchanged at CII Connect2018 in presence of Tamil Nadu IT Minister M Manikandan and State IT Secretary Santhosh Babu.
Tamil Nadu is the first State to collaborate with a premier research institute like IITM to harness the power of AI and blockchain technologies in the areas of health, education and agriculture. Governments need to tap the power of Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Things, Blockchain and Drones to address needs of their citizens, Misra said in the release.
5 channels
The collaboration seeks to take up five channels for engagement: Support and collaborate on research relating data science for government and e-governance, Through specific projects the parties will develop products, decision-support systems and provide insights from data, Capacity building in the areas of data science and ICT for the State government, To conduct periodic Hackathons and workshops involving students in areas of data science and ICT, and Work towards creation of registered entities, potentially in collaboration with external IT vendors, to carry forward projects at a larger scale.
IIT-Madras has agreed to work with TNeGA on the above broader scope and provide complete support to TNeGA, the release said.