T''gana govt signs key agreement with Australia to establish AI Centre of Excellence in Hyderabad

Hyderabad, Nov 5 (PTI) The Telangana government on Friday signed a key agreement to establish a Centre of Excellence in Artificial Intelligence in partnership with Australia's Deakin University.

This will be the first-of-its-kind skill development centre in the country dedicated to advanced AI capabilities, an official release said.

"With MoU being signed at the Secretariat with Australia's Minister for International Education Mr Julian Hill, a major step was taken towards strengthening Telangana's AI ambitions," state IT and Industries Minister D Sridhar Babu said in a post on X.

Speaking to reporters along with Hill, Sridhar Babu said the Centre of Excellence would be set up in the proposed AI University at the 'Future City' here.

The Deakin Applied Artificial Intelligence Institute will jointly run the Centre of Excellence with the Telangana Government.

Sridhar Babu said the objective of the collaboration is not merely to produce academic graduates, but to create globally competitive, highly skilled professionals.

He said the agreement is part of Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy's ongoing efforts to bring leading international universities to Telangana.

The new Centre of Excellence will support research and advanced skill development across key sectors such as governance, healthcare, education, IT, life sciences, agriculture, critical minerals, and rare earth metals.

Telangana, he said, is poised to become a gateway for the future of Digital India, he said.

"Arrangements for skill development are also being made across major educational institutions in the state. During my recent visit to Australia, we invited Deakin University to establish a campus in Telangana. The state has an innovation-friendly ecosystem, and this Centre of Excellence will further strengthen it," Sridhar Babu added. PTI SJR SJR SA