NITI Aayog & ABB India sign Statement of Intent

ByMr. Sachida Nand Jha

May 23, 2018

Speed Post News Network

New Delhi : NITI Aayog and ABB India signed a Statement of Intent (SoI) on May 23, 2018, to support the Indian government realize its ambitious vision of ‘Make in India’ through advanced manufacturing technologies that incorporate the latest developments in robotics and artificial intelligence.

The agreement was signed in the presence of Amitabh Kant, CEO, NITI Aayog, and Dr Ulrich Spiesshofer, CEO, ABB, by Ms Anna Roy, Adviser (Industry), NITI Aayog, and Sanjeev Sharma, MD, ABB India.

NITI Aayog will work with ABB across various sectors of the economy, such as the power and water utilities, industries like food as well as the heavy industries and the transport (rail and metro) and infrastructure to suggest solutions for digitalization, incorporating the Internet of Things (IoT) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies. The initiative also covers the fast growing segment of electric mobility, according to a PIB release.

Jointly, NITI Aayog and ABB will work with government ministries, solicit feedback for areas critical to them and discuss solutions using industrial automation, and digitalization technologies.

“We are looking forward to learning more about practical applications of future technologies such as AI and IoT, especially in streamlining governance and economic systems. Through this collaboration, which will include cross-sectoral understanding of digitalization at ABB’s world class centres, will be key in driving progress of key sectors in India. This collaboration is meant to lead to actionable insights and focused plans that will help India become a centre for advanced manufacturing,” said Amitabh Kant.

Through this SoI, NITI Aayog will facilitate participation of policymakers and government functionaries at workshops and training programmes organised by ABB India. Such programmes will feature subject matter experts and will aim to sensitise policymakers and officials about relevant AI capabilities, and explore ways they can be used for revolutionising manufacturing productivity.

The first workshop for senior government officials, under this collaboration, would be organised in June, 2018 at ABB Ability Innovation Centre in Bengaluru. Given the importance of the food processing sector, the workshop will focus on digital and automation technologies in this sector.

Senior officials from the Central, State Governments and autonomous bodies will be nominated for this workshop. Similar workshops will be organised for other sectors such as power, urban development and transport in the future. NITI Aayog, in collaboration with ABB, will come out with a report on policy recommendations based on the feedback received in the workshops, by December this year.

The workshops and training programmes will be held at ABB Ability Innovation Centre (ABB AIC). As the company’s biggest research and development center in the world, located in Bengaluru, it develops technologies in areas such as AI, cyber security, automation engineering, data analytics, augmented and virtual reality and industrial software.

“We are excited to partner with NITI Aayog and develop ways to for key areas of India’s economy to benefit from and implement the latest technologies in digitalization, artificial intelligence, robotics, and industrial automation,” said Dr Ulrich Spiesshofer.