Over the years, several technological advancements have come up, like humanoid robots, supercomputers, drones, etc. Artificial intelligence (AI) is one such technology that has emerged in the last few years and has significantly impacted the world. In fact, AI is slowly becoming a norm in the majority of sectors like healthcare, defense, and security. However, the benefits of this technology can be reaped only if organizations embrace digital and technological transformations. Such transformations are planned and implemented with the help of AI research and development (R&D) centers. India has shown signs of “AI readiness” in the past few years after recognizing the need and capability of artificial intelligence to push the economy towards development. India has now become a thriving location for multinational companies to establish AI R&D centers due to the vast potential and pool of talent.
These R&D centers aim at advancing existing technologies and extending their core capabilities across all industries. This article enlists the top 10 AI R&D Centers in India.
Top 10 R&D Centers in India
Listed below are some of the most advanced AI R&D centers in India.
- AI Kriya – AI Research Center at IIT Hyderabad
The artificial intelligence department at IIT-Hyderabad is actively involved in pioneering efforts in artificial intelligence via BTech, MTech, and Ph.D. programs. A Center of Research and Innovation in AI, “AI Kriya,” has been established in collaboration with JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency) and Honeywell to aid the department in embarking on more research areas. The AI Kriya center houses multiple research labs and a mini data center to leverage computational facilities. NVIDIA DGX1 and DGX2 supercomputers with several GPU servers leverage up to 250 TFlops of GPU power and make AI Kriya a completely state-of-the-art in-house research center.
Area of Research
The AI Kriya Center and the AI department consistently publish high-impact and visibility journals and conferences catering to AI, NeurIPS, InterSpeech, and others. Many research papers, including Applications of Computer Vision, Quality Aware Generative Adversarial Networks, Submodular Batch Selection for Training Deep Neural Networks, etc., have been recognized and published by IEEE, WACV, and NeurIPS.
- Mercedes-Benz R&D India (MBRDI)
Mercedes-Benz Research and Development India (or MBRDI) was established in Bengaluru
as a captive institution for AI research, IT, and product development. The establishment follows the Mercedes-Benz AG group’s objective to tap into the top engineering talent worldwide and develop a global footprint for its R&D and IT capabilities. The center focuses on computer-aided designs and simulations (CAD and CAE) for power training, exteriors and chassis for embedded systems, telematics, and other related technologies.
Area of Research
The AI R&D center has actively developed passenger car applications in collaboration with Daimler. Several intelligent apps like AnITa (An Intelligent Transport App) have been developed focusing on transportation safety. The MBRDI center is also a part of the Mercedes Benz SAFE ROADS program to develop revolutionary safety features.
- DRDO Young Scientist Labs
To influence the nation’s AI R&D, the Indian government announced the construction of five DRDO Young Scientist Labs specializing in research on AI, quantum technologies, and cognitive technologies. The laboratories in Bengaluru, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, and Hyderabad are designed to produce innovations and make India self-sufficient in the field.
Area of Research
These labs are concentrated on furthering existing research on deep neural networks, reinforcement learning, cognitive surveillance, tactical spectrum sensing, online waveform adaptation, and target recognition.
- Fujitsu Research of India Private Limited (FRIPL)
Fujitsu launched a new AI R&D center, “Fujitsu Research of India Private Limited (FRIPL),” on April 1, 2022, as a part of its global innovation strategy. FRIPL will concentrate on research and development of quantum software, AI, and machine learning technologies. FRIPL will initiate a combined research project with IIT Hyderabad and the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) to encourage innovation in cutting-edge AI technology as one of its first significant endeavors. The joint research projects will enhance AI and machine learning technology’s precision and robustness.
Since it is a newly established center, the research work is in its infancy.
Area of Research
In collaboration with IIT Hyderabad, the research center plans to uncover the causal relationships with higher accuracy by combining Fujitsu’s AI for a cause-and-effect relationship with IIT-H’s geometric statistical theory.
In collaboration with IISc, the researchers will dive into automating AI generation using autonomous learning responses based on state changes. The research will utilize Fujitsu’s reinforcement learning capabilities and IISc’s leading expertise in deep learning to develop automatic deep learning models with high accuracy and lesser errors.
- Societal impact through Cloud and Artificial Intelligence (SCAI) by Microsoft
The Center for Societal Benefit through Cloud and Artificial Intelligence (SCAI) by Microsoft Research India is dedicated to developing, fostering, validating, and deploying technologies that will significantly impact society. The AI R&D center is devoted to building partnerships with academic institutions, start-ups, non-governmental organizations, and other groups interested in leveraging artificial intelligence and related technology for society’s betterment.
The center will collaborate with startups and academic institutions via external collaborations and with students via its SCAI Fellowship Programs to continue seeking new proposals.
Area of Research
Research is conducted via Microsoft’s Technology and Empowerment (TEM) Group to extend the benefits to underrepresented communities. High-impact projects like Digital Green (a project aimed to disseminate false information targeted to small farmers) and 99DOTS (a project based on medication adherence) have become significantly successful and grown into independent infrastructures.
- Intel Design and Engineering Center in Bengaluru
Intel established its presence in Bangaluru in 1988, and a decade later, it established the Intel India Development Center (IIDC). Since then, Intel has continued to increase its R&D and innovation footprint in India, which has already invested over $8 billion. Intel has recently launched a new Design and Engineering R&D Center in the city. The new center, at Ecospace Business Park, with around 2,000 experts, aims to promote cutting-edge design and engineering work in the Internet of Things (IoT), graphics, artificial intelligence, and automotive sectors. An entire floor is allocated to high-tech R&D labs that will cater to silicon designing and validation.
Area of Research
The recently established Design and Engineering Center will expand Intel’s chip designing and production capabilities under a single roof. The company plans to look deeper into silicon designing technologies and develop more complex blueprints for the future.
- Tredence Delivery and R&D Centers
The data science solutions provider, Tredence, has established delivery centers and AI R&D facilities in Gurugram, Bengaluru, and Chennai. These centers will leverage advanced analytics, data science, and engineering solutions for clients across several industries. Tredence’s ASTHA (recruit, train, and deploy) initiatives will help employees with experience by giving them opportunities in data science and data engineering. The new centers, with a hybrid work model, can accommodate more than 1400 employees, making them the company’s most prominent employment base.
Area of Research
The delivery and R&D centers will focus on enhancing existing data services and developing new ones to aid in the delivery process.
- Data Analytics and Intelligence Research at IIT Delhi
Data Analytics and Intelligence Research (DAIR), a well-known AI R&D group at IIT Delhi, focuses on working with diverse fields of data and technologies in conjunction. The research center aids IIT-Delhi students in developing applications with national and international credibility. These applications are designed to answer fundamental scientific questions like the vitality of transient social networks, probabilistic graphic models, and others.
Area of Research
The group has published several papers in fields like graph mining, computer vision, and information extraction. Their publications have also been approved at prestigious machine learning conferences like IJCAI, NIPS, and KDD. In addition, DAIR has worked on critical national initiatives like analyzing the NREGA employment dataset and mining social media and political feeds for opinions.
- Center of Excellence in AI at NIT Trichy
To address the research issues and challenges in social network computing, the Center of Excellence (CoE) in Social Network Computing at NIT Trichy is an interdisciplinary forum. The CoE concentrates on resolving societal difficulties in crisis management, decision support systems, and healthcare, such as those brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. It comprises members from several departments, including Computer Science and Engineering, Computer Applications, Humanities, Mathematics, and a few others who work together and develop prototypes.
Area of Research
The AI R&D center focuses on ensuring security in social networks by working on intrusion detection and prevention, cryptography, authentication, and denial of web attacks. It also undertakes content-based social network analysis to secure personal information and data centers.
- Wipro IISc Innovation Network (WIRIN)
A memorandum of understanding (MoU) between Wipro and IISc focuses on cooperation in research on robotics, autonomous systems, computer vision, machine learning, and human-machine interaction. The AI research lab has been developed as a part of this MoU to focus on deep learning, machine learning, healthcare diagnostics, and artificial intelligence. Additionally, the AI lab intends to create digital interfaces that will quickly and precisely build sophisticated diagnostic, ophthalmic imaging, and medical image reconstruction technologies.
Area of Research
The AI R&D center has completed numerous projects in diverse fields, including cognitive computing and AI, visual computing, human-computer interaction, and autonomous systems. The WIRIN initiative also sponsors several scholarship programs for the top three meritorious IISc doctoral students.
