BENGALURU: The IT/BT department on Thursday approved setting up of an Artificial Intelligence Centre of Excellence (AI-CoE) named Centre for Applied AI for Tech Solutions (CATS), in order to accelerate AI adoption. It will be established at the KEONICS facility in HSR Layout.
“This is Karnataka’s deep tech decade, and the CATS AI Centre of Excellence will be a launchpad for deep-tech start-ups and industry collaborations. By bringing government, academia, and industry together, we are building a pipeline from research to market-ready innovation,” said IT/BT minister Priyank Kharge.
The project is being done in partnership with the National Association of Software and Service Companies (NASSCOM). It will be built with a budget of Rs 20 crore over a period of four years. The amount will be funded according to a 40:40:20 ratio by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY, Government of India), Karnataka government, and industry partners respectively.
According to a release shared by the department, the centre will focus on priority areas including AI, robotics and automation, supply chain optimisation, and digital transformation. The initiative aims to support start-ups, MSMEs, industry players, research institutions, and academia. The metrics to assess the centre will include the number of start-ups incubated, prototypes developed, intellectual property filings, industry collaborations, and skilled professionals trained.