NASSCOM recently inaugurated its state of the art Centre of Excellence in the port city of Vizag. NASSCOM CoE is said to be the largest deep tech innovation ecosystem in India comprising of startups, innovators, enterprises and the government. The CoE in Vizag looks to work with local industry here and find solutions to some of their most pertinent challenges. In an ex-clusive interview to Vizag Industrial Scan, CEO of NASSCOMs CoE for loT and AI, Mr Sanjeev Malhotra elaborates on the centres role and how it aims to spur innovation and growth in the regional eco-system. Edited excerpts of the interview below. Could you briefly elaborate on the over-all mandate of NASSCOM CoE Nasscom CoE is focussed on enabling India as the Innovation hub for the emerging technology like IoT &AI through
democratization of Innovation, enabling prototype development and digitization of analogue sectors such as Manufacturing, Healthcare, Energy, and agriculture. Typically, what problems are the start-ups at NASSCOM CoE solving? The problem statements revolve around the following use cases: • Use of computer vision in Al based Quality assaying applications. • Use of low cost open-source hardware and telemedicine software for telemedicine consultations • Improving Over-all Equipment Effectiveness of API/Formula-tions units through Pharma 4.0 interventions in the region. How does t h e NASSCOM CoE look to benefit the startup eco-system in this re-gion? T h e CoEs, over the past few years, have developed vertical focus in the digitization of Healthcare & Manufacturing sectors and are seen as a Go-To institution for competencies around emerging technology adoption in these sectors. We will build a collaborative network that will help startups and Industries alike and it is benefitting the key industry segments. How many Startups has the NASSCOM CoE signed up in Vizag? CoE is already working with fifteen start-ups in Vizag and is additionally connected to other start-ups across the country as part of the virtual program. What are some of the core areas of focus of the NASSCOM CoE Vizag? The core areas revolve around 1. Digital Health initiatives such as VIZAG INDUSTRIAL SCAN 4 Telemedicine, Remote monitoring ofhealth assets and Interoperability pilots under National Digital Health Mission. 2. Increasing Over-all Equipment Effective-ness using AI/ML in the energy intensive indus-tries. Could you list some examples of how startups have benefitted from NASSCOMs CoE in other locations? Many startups have benefitted from our cocreation program. Some of them have projects overseas and some of them have deployed solutions in manufacturing industries across the coun-try in the areas of predictive maintenance, employee safety.. How do you intend to benefit the local industry from NASSCOMs CoE in Vizag ? Vizag is home to sev-eral large Energy intensive industries & Med-Tech/Pharma Units that are keen on digitization of their operations. The new CoE at Vizag would focus on accelerating growth and adoption of Digital Health solutions in the last mile (JanCare), accelerating Pharma 4.0 journeys & Smart Energy adoption in key sectors in the region.