On the post-budget webinar on “Technology-Enabled Development”, panel discussed various areas of technology and its developmental aspects. The first-panel discussion was on the topic “Energising Start-ups and Deep Techs through Data and AI”. The panel which was moderated by Abhishek Singh, CEO MyGov; President & CEO NeGD; MD & CEO Digital India Corporation (DIC) at Govt of India, included Debjani Ghosh, President & CEO of NASSCOM; Sreekanth Velamakanni, Founder & CEO of Fractal Analytics; Prof. Inder Gopal, IISc Bangalore & CEO of Indian Urban Data Exchange; Shekhar Subrahmanyam, Head of AI at Wadhwani AI. The opening remarks of the discussion were delivered by Dr. Rajendra Kumar, Additional Secretary of MeitY. 

In the opening remarks, Dr. Rajendra Kumar introduced the focus of the panel discussion:

1. Prominent initiatives of MeitY
2. Potential for job creation/boosting employability
3. Technological Self-reliance
4. Plan for achieving the vision of Amrut Kaal- India @2047
5. Suggested course of action while reducing the compliance burden

Data & AI to kickstart Startup ecosystem 

“Out of the 26000+ tech startups, over 3000 are deep-tech startups”, says Debjani Ghosh speaking about the startup ecosystem in India. The growth of deep-tech startups should be accelerated as these are the organisations that will ensure the development of next-gen solutions. The startup ecosystem has enhanced the employment opportunity for over 10-12 per cent year of year. Nearly 29% of startups are being established outside the metro cities which is making its culture and consumer behaviour more diverse which our country is in dire need of. Each one of these startups has the potential to become a multi-million dollar organisation. According to Debjani Ghosh, “Indian tech startup ecosystem is entering a phase where it is not only becoming mature but sustainable”.

Access to quality data for all is the key to attaining the goals. There are 4 vectors according to Sreekanth Velamakanni that government needs to look at:

1. Encouraging the growth of AI
2. Government should use AI in more spheres and create more use cases
3. Preparing India for what is coming ahead
4. Governance: Use datasets where privacy is ensured by design.

Intertwining these vectors, using them wisely hand-in-hand would ensure the growth of AI in India.

Accessibility of Data through data-exchange

Smart City Mission and the Indian Institute of Science came together to conceptualise & build IUDX. The urban sector is dominated by non-personal data. The intention was to create applications and use cases from cities, startups, industry, health etc., with existing challenges such as security and incompatible platforms. “IUDX is a cloud-based platform that will take the data and make it available to the third parties”, stated Prof. Inder Gopal, while speaking about the role of IUDX in data exchange. There are three functions of IUDX:

1. Catalogue server that finds and describes datasets
2. Consent Server that looks into security, privacy, policy and payments
3. Resource server that translates the data into a common format

Society friendly AI

“We want to impact the underprivileged and the people who have the greatest amount of difficulty in accessing technology”, says Shekhar Subrahmanyam speaking about the vision of Wadhwani AI. Wadhwani AI works in close proximity to the government to get access to a small amount of data, think through different sectors and execute their AI solutions. “You have to be with the problem until the very end”. States Shekhar Subrahmanyam. For functioning, Wadhwani AI has 5 distinct teams:

1. Domain teams
2. AI/ML teams
3. User design research
4. Measurement & Evaluation
5. Engineering Teams

Investments in AI use cases, AI-based startups, and a team that is skilled in AI is the recipe to achieve the AI-grails in India. Along with the investments, a well-designed principle will strengthen the spine. A strong data-sharing culture and building AI to overcome the diversity in India will make India a tech hub.