India–Sweden Collaborative Industrial Research and Development Program was launched by Prof. Ashutosh Sharma, Secretary, Department of Science and Technology (DST) and H E Klas Molin, Ambassador of Sweden to India, during the AI for All Summit, an India-Sweden partnership event held in March 2019 in New Delhi. It is supported by both the Government of India and Sweden. The program is in line with NITI Aayog’s National Policy on Artificial Intelligence ‘AIforAll’ (means technology leadership in AI for achieving the greater good).

The objective of the program is to promote, facilitate and support co-development and commercialization of innovative technologies which can benefit both India and Sweden. This program is being implemented by Global Innovation & Technology Alliance (GITA) on behalf of DST in India, and Vinnova in Sweden.

In March 2019, the Department of Biotechnology (DBT) announced call for AI applications for the ‘Affordable and Accessible Healthcare – Big Data and Genomics’ initiative. The department aims to seek pre-proposals from team of researchers who plans to develop AI-based solutions to solve clinically relevant problems. These solutions can assist clinical decision-making on disease prediction and prognosis evaluation, early detection and diagnosis, therapy choice, patient monitoring and care, etc.

The department focuses on AI programs to be developed for diagnosis processes, treatment protocol development, drug development, personalized medicine, patient follow up, etc. for diseases such as cancer, tuberculosis, cardiomyopathy, diabetic retinopathy, genetic diseases, and rare disorders. DBT has encouraged relevant research groups, institution, organization, or hospital to utilize existing bioresources, biobanks, databanks, and datasets in the application.

DBT would fund the selected researchers for a duration of 2, 3 and 5 years with multi-disciplinary expertise in data science, computational biology, statistics, machine learning, and deep learning.

The Department of Science and Technology introduced the Data Science Research Initiative, which aims at studying the nature of data and scientific issues related to data ,and possible real-world applications. The broad areas of research on which DST focuses includes mathematical foundations, machine learning and knowledge discovery, storage, retrieval and search, privacy and security, and data science applications.

The Department of Science and Technology launched Interdisciplinary Cyber Physical Systems to promote research and development in the emerging field of cyber physical systems (CPS). A CPS is a mechanism monitored by computer-based algorithms integrated with the internet and users. In 2019, the government approved a National Mission on Interdisciplinary Cyber-Physical Systems (NM-ICPS) across India which includes central ministries, state governments, industries, and academia.

The Mission will be executed by DST for five years period (2019-2024).The cyber physical systems (CPS) include various solutions such as sensing, computation, control and networking into physical objects, and infrastructure. It aims to develop 15 Technology Innovation Hubs (TIH), 6 Application Innovation Hubs (AIH) and 4 Technology Translation Research Parks (TTRP). CPS technologies include AI, internet of things, machine learning, deep learning, big data analytics, etc. The mission focuses on health, education, energy, environment, agriculture, strategy cum security, and industrial sectors, Industry 4.0, smart cities, sustainable development goals, etc. It plans to develop and make CPS and associated technologies accessible in the country, to resolve India specific national and regional issues, and startup ecosystem development

The Department of Science and Technology (DST) initiated a highly focused Cognitive Science Research Initiative program in 2008. CSRI’s objectives include designing better software technologies and AI devices; analysing nature of mental disorders of physiological, social, and neuro-chemical origins; designing better learning tools for education; streamlining of social policy formulation and analysis.

CSRI provides a platform to the scientific community to create better solution for challenges related with cognitive disorders and social issues through various psychological tools, early diagnosis, better therapies, intervention technologies, and rehabilitation programs. CSRI supports activities including individual R&D projects, multi-centric mega projects, post-doctoral fellowship, support for schools, training, workshops, conferences, etc.

The Department of Science and Technology introduced the Survey of India which is the central engineering agency that oversees mapping and surveying. The agency has data centers throughout the country and has user-focused, cost-effective, reliable, and quality geospatial data across India.

The Department of Science & Technology started a unique program ‘Vigyan Jyoti’ for meritorious girls with the aim to address the underrepresentation of women in different fields of Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) in the country. As a first step, the “Vigyan Jyoti” has been introduced at the school level wherein meritorious girl students of Class 9-12 are being encouraged to pursue higher education and career in STEM field. The Vigyan Jyoti envisaged hand-holding and interventions right from the school level i.e., Class IX and which will continue till the PhD level to encourage girls to pursue a career in underrepresented areas of STEM. Various activities such as science camps, special lectures/ classes, counselling of students and parents, interaction with role models, tinkering activities, visit to Knowledge Partners/ Research Labs/ Industries/ NGOs are being conducted in the program in order to motivate girls. 

On 18th March 2021, the Indo-US Science and Technology Forum (IUSSTF) launched its flagship program, the US-India Artificial Intelligence Initiative. The activity will bring together key stakeholders from India and the USA to foster AI innovation by sharing ideas and experiences, identifying new opportunities in research and development, and bilateral collaboration.