HYDERABAD: As many as 40 life sciences firms with Global Capability Centres (GCCs) in Hyderabad have agreed to form a consortium on the suggestion of Telangana government.
Revealing this, IT and Industry Minister D Sridhar Babu on Monday told a select group of reporters on the sidelines of the AI Summit in Healthcare that the idea is to ensure a dialogue in order to have healthy competition within the industry, to build more robust GCCs in Hyderabad, prepare curriculum for the science courses infused with technology and train and recruit industry-ready candidates, particularly college graduates.
The AI Summit is being held with the theme: ‘Unlocking the potential of AI to revolutionise healthcare’.
Sridhar Babu also unveiled the logo of the GCC consortium at the summit.
The state government’s suggestion to form a consortium follows a similar step taken by the Banking Financial and Services Industry (BFSI) sector. It was aimed at training thousands of engineering and non-engineering students and would ensure jobs in the BFSI sector.
“The idea behind this consortium is to infuse science courses with technology. When we had thought of the BFSI consortium, we had reached out to banking, financial and insurance companies and their heads to explore what best can our unemployed youth or the next generation of students can take from their curriculum. So, when we suggested it to them, they formed a consortium and started the exercise of putting together a curriculum. In a similar way, we thought why could not we have a life sciences consortium of GCCs as they also require talent and to ensure that our students have the advantage and become industry-ready by the time they graduate. Three sub-groups have been formed focused on talent, operational efficiency and supply ecosystem,” Sridhar Babu explained.
Success of BFSI consortium inspired govt
He added that the government’s suggestion on the GCC consortium was a natural progression of thought following the BFSI initiative that brought to light the fact that the sector generates space for about 20,000 jobs annually.
Noting that the GCC consortium will function on a hybrid model, including the curriculum, the minister stated: “Firstly, Reddy Labs has already started training, secondly we will try to take up niche areas where GCCs ascribe and prescribe to our institutions, specially the Young India Skill University (YISU). Thirdly is having one curriculum for the trainees in the regular colleges.”
CoE for Quantum Computing
The Minister also stated that a Centre of Excellence (CoE) on Quantum Computing will also be built. The state government has already announced a CoE for AI.
“We are working towards it. I spoke to a professor from Germany recently working in the field of quantum computing and we are also planning to have professors from Hyderabad, including the IIT. We are thinking of bringing the professors on a common platform to sensitise people about quantum computing. For engineering students, we will hold a seminar or a summit soon in JNTU,” said Sridhar Babu, adding that the CoE for quantum computing will come up independently, and not in the proposed AI City.
AI advisory council
The government is also in the process of forming a nine-member AI Advisory Council that was announced at Global AI Summit (GAIS) in September. The minister disclosed that the government is also working on establishing an AI-focused University.
“We are roping in people who are already using AI so that the council plays a crucial role in ensuring that AI growth in Telangana is inclusive, ethical and aligned with our developmental goals. Four members have already come onboard, including Dr Reddys, and the council is likely to be set up within a week or 10 days,” the minister said.
Meanwhile,experts like D Nageshwar Reddy, chairman of Asian Institute of Gastroenterology and AIG Hospitals; Viren Shetty, vice chairman of Narayana Health, Dr Rajendra Pratap Gupta, founder of Health Parliament, Academy of Digital Health Sciences and International Patient’s Union and Dr Dean Ho, HoD, biomedical engineering, National University of Singapore highlighted the scope and current uses of AI in healthcare and life sciences.