New Delhi: IIT Delhi and AIIMS have signed an MoU to jointly establish a Centre of Excellence (CoE) that will focus on artificial intelligence (AI) applications in public healthcare.
The collaboration follows a Rs 330 crore grant sanctioned by the Ministry of Education in 2023 under the ‘Make AI in India, Make AI Work for India’ initiative.
The upcoming AI-CoE will serve as the primary vehicle to implement the government grant. Officials involved confirmed that the centre will operate as a Section 8 company, a non-profit entity with administrative oversight expected from a board comprising secretaries from key central ministries, including Education, Health, and Electronics and IT.
Chetan Arora, chief project manager for the initiative at IIT Delhi, said the CoE would initially address five major national health missions, including cancer, maternal and child health, tuberculosis (TB), blindness, and other yet-to-be-finalised priorities. “The centre will evolve with emerging needs in health and AI technologies,” Arora told Business Standard.
Long-Term Vision and Future Funding
While the Rs 330 crore government funding will span four years, the CoE is structured to attract further investment. It is expected to seek support from private sector partners, philanthropic foundations, and alumni networks. Officials added that the centre would be open to collaboration with other research institutions, both domestic and global.
An AIIMS official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, noted that the organisational leadership, including the CEO, will be decided at a later stage. “The aim is to keep the governance dynamic to align with policy and tech developments,” the official said.
