Mar 27, 2024
NITC among five consortia winning first round of selection by MoE
A consortium formed by the National Institute of Technology Calicut (NITC) has been selected for setting up the Centre of Excellence in Artificial Intelligence (CoE in AI) based sustainable cities. NIT Calicut is the only NIT that has been selected as a lead institute for this purpose by the Ministry of Education, Govt. of India.
NIT Calicut along with four other consortia have been selected by the Ministry under Phase I of the scheme for setting up three Centres of Excellence in Artificial Intelligence (CoE in AI) in the country under the theme “Sustainable Cities”. NITC had submitted a proposal titled “Sustainable Applications for Mobility, Urban Development and Resilience using Artificial Intelligence (SAMUDRA)” for joining the selection process.
“NIT Calicut is the only NIT among the 31 NITs in the country, which has been selected to lead the consortium consisting of other academic institutions, industry partners, Government departments, Urban local bodies and entrepreneurial ventures”, said Prof. Prasad Krishna, Director of NIT Calicut. “We have formed a dedicated team of 14 faculty members for carrying out the activities of the Proof-of-Concept (PoC) generation in the first phase of this project”, he added.
The team consists of faculty members from four departments, namely Computer Science and Engineering, Architecture and Planning, Civil Engineering and Management Studies. The project is co-ordinated by Dr.S.D Madhu Kumar, Professor, Department of Computer Science and Engineering and Dr. Harikrishna M., Associate Professor, Department of Civil Engineering.
It was in November 2023 that the Ministry of Education invited applications from consortia for setting up the Centre of Excellence in Artificial Intelligence under three themes namely ‘Agriculture’, ‘Health’ and ‘Sustainable Cities’. The ministry shortlisted five proposals from a set of 15 proposals in the first stage of the selection process under Sustainable Cities. All the shortlisted consortia will get an initial funding of INR Two crore for implementing the Proof-of-Concept.
NIT Calicut was able to leverage its inherent strength in the area of Urban Development as evident in the consistently high ranking in the NIRF ranking in the Architecture stream and the recent award of the “Centre of Excellence in Urban Planning and Development” to the Department of Architecture and planning in the Institute.
According to Prof. S D Madhu Kumar, “the Proof of Concept of the proposals is to be made ready within six months. The consortia being selected in the final stage (Phase 2) will get funding of INR 300 crores for setting up the CoE in AI”, he added.
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