- To equip research and higher education institutions with AI infrastructure; build curriculum and faculty capability to skill students in AI and cloud technologies
- India is the first country to launch the program
As part of the program, Microsoft will support selected institutions with
- best-in-class infrastructure
- onsite training for faculty and students
- curriculum and content
- access for participating students to cloud and AI services
- developmental tools and
- developer support
Microsoft will set up the core AI infrastructure and an IOT Hub for all selected campuses. The company will also offer a wide range of AI developmental tools and Azure AI Services such as Microsoft Cognitive Services, Azure Machine Learning and Bot Services. Training will include development workshops to help both the faculty and students build their skills and expertise in cloud computing, data sciences, AI and IoT. Additionally, it will assist faculty in strategizing content and curricula for project-based and experiential learning.
For research focused institutions, Microsoft will provide AI-based recommendations for potential areas of research. Support will also be available in terms of an in-campus Cloud Software Research Associate throughout the duration of the program.
Manish Prakash, Country General Manager-PS, Health and Education, Microsoft India, said, “AI, the defining technology of our time, is fast transforming our lives, industries and society. Jobs of tomorrow will require a very different set of skills, and collaborating, training and working with AI will be as important as collaborating with people. It is now more critical than ever for education institutions to integrate new cloud and AI technologies. We need to ramp up the institutional set-up and build capability among educators to equip the workforce of tomorrow. The Microsoft Intelligent Cloud Hub Program aims to catalyze this with technology insights, cognitive skills, and a practical, in-depth understanding of developing intelligent connected solutions for application across industry and citizenship scenarios.
“Our vision is to make participating universities and institutions Intelligent Cloud Hubs in their own right at the end of the first three years,” he added. As part of the collaboration, Microsoft will also help participating institutions in branding and to garner recognition through national showcase of selected projects.
Note to the editor:
Microsoft believes that Al holds the power and potential to amplify human creativity and expand capabilities. In April this year, the company announced the Microsoft Professional Program in AI, the latest learning track in the Microsoft Professional Program (MPP) open to the public. The program provides job-ready skills and real-world experience to engineers and others who are looking to improve their skills in AI and data science through a series of online courses that feature hands-on labs and expert instructors. The program is part of a larger corporate effort that also includes the enterprise developer-focused AI School, which provides online videos and other assets to help developers build AI skills. That program includes both general educational tools for developers looking to expand AI capabilities and specific guidance on how developers can use Microsoft’s tools and services.
About Microsoft India
Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT” @microsoft) enables digital transformation for the era of an intelligent cloud and an intelligent edge. Its mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more. Microsoft set up its India operations in 1990. Today, Microsoft entities in India have over 8,000 employees, engaged in sales and marketing, research and development and customer services and support, across 11 Indian cities – Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Chennai, New Delhi, Gurugram, Noida, Hyderabad, Kochi, Kolkata, Mumbai and Pune. Microsoft offers its global cloud services from local data centers to accelerate digital transformation across Indian start-ups, businesses, and government agencies. In 2016, Microsoft opened one of its eight Cyber Security Engagement Centers in the country, to address security needs of both public and private sectors.
