NITI Aayog, AWS set up Cloud Innovation Centre to address community challenges

Cloud services provider Amazon Web Services (AWS) on Monday announced a partnership with government think tank NITI Aayog to set up its first Cloud Innovation Centre (CIC) in India to address societal challenges through digital innovation.

The Frontier Technologies CIC aims to accelerate innovation in agriculture, healthcare and skill development, a joint statement said. It will identify and prioritise projects as well as collaborate with local leaders, including experts at the state and district levels, to solve critical societal challenges. 

Additionally, local enterprises, startups, researchers and universities can experiment and build prototypes on AWS Cloud, it said.

AWS CICs, as per the website, help government agencies, nonprofits and education institutions collaborate on challenges, apply design thinking methodology, test new ideas and access technology expertise from AWS. 

“Our CIC programme is designed to be a catalyst for innovation in the public sector, by bringing together technology experts to address challenges,” Max Peterson, vice president of international sales and worldwide public sector at AWS, said. 

While the cloud computing division of Amazon has set up 12 CICs globally, the one in India is the first to address societal challenges at a national level, the statement said. It joins a global network of AWS public sector CICs across Australia, Bahrain, Canada, France, Germany, South Korea and the United States.

“The NITI Aayog Frontier Technologies CIC with AWS will bring together government stakeholders, startups and local organisations in India to innovate and create new approaches to solving problems,” Anna Roy, senior advisor at NITI Aayog, said. 

“Through the CIC programme, we have the opportunity to experiment with the latest technology, and access world-class innovation expertise that will help us advance citizen services, and better understand how frontier technologies can address the unique needs of our country,” she added.

The policy think tank in August partnered with software provider Oracle to harness data to improve the quality of life of citizens in India’s most backward districts.