University of Birmingham tie-up with Government of Maharashtra

• The University of Birmingham is partnering with the Government of Maharashtra to set up a specialist Research and Innovation Hub
• The aim is to tackle challenges in key state priority areas including agriculture and healthcare, using Artificial Intelligence (AI)

The University of Birmingham is partnering with the Government of Maharashtra to set up a specialist Research and Innovation Hub to tackle challenges in key state priority areas including agriculture and healthcare, using Artificial Intelligence (AI).

Working with strategy partner Ernst & Young, the agreement brings together three State Public Universities including Kavayitri Bahinabai Chaudhari North Maharashtra University, Jalgaon; COEP Technological University, Pune; and Savitribai Phule Pune University, Pune, during the initial phase of the project.

As part of this initiative, the Department of Higher and Technical Education has also constituted a Maharashtra Responsible Research and Innovation Taskforce (MSRRIT) to effectively track the research activity in the state, ideate on interventions to improve quality of research and build out SoPs for conducting research as well as collaborating with other International and National bodies.

Researchers from the partner universities have identified two themes involving the development of AI systems using Natural Language Processing to:

• Automatically extract information from clinical records in Marathi, Hindi and other Indian languages and then classify using Machine Learning algorithms to provide insights and improvements in healthcare and patient outcomes.
• Provide agricultural extension services to the State’s farmers in Marathi, Hindi, and other Indian languages by developing AI Chatbots that can converse, answer questions and explain concepts expressed in these languages.

“Through the AI Research and Innovation Hub, the State aims to establish a new model for collaborative research that leverages the expertise of local researchers along with International counterparts to develop innovative solutions to state priority areas,” Vikas Rastogi, principal secretary, Department of Higher and Technical Education, Government of Maharashtra said.