'Hexagon, NASSCOM to open AI community centre in Hyd next yr'

: Hexagon Capability Center India (HCCI),the research and development unit of Swedish technology major Hexagon AB, will set up an AI community centre in the city next year in association with NASSCOM, a top company official said here on Monday.

The upcoming Artificial Intelligence (AI) centre will be accessible to all from high school level and free education on AI topics will be provided, HCCI Vice-President and Country ManagerNavaneet Mishra told reporters here after presenting awards to winners of a 24-hour hackathon named Hexathon which was conducted recently by the company.

"With National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM), we are trying to open an AI community centre which is planned for next year.

It will be not only for students, but also for those who have became experts and those who finished engineering degree," Mishra said, adding the idea was to push AI in the community as well.

He said they recently signed an MoU with NASSCOM and the centre will cover about 350 students every year in multiple batches.

HCCI, which currently has 1,400 plus employees at its facility in Hyderabad, will touch 1500 workforce by the end of this year, Mishra said, to a query on expansion plans.

Telangana IT Secretary Jayesh Ranjan said 2020 will be celebrated in Telangana as the year of AI and to have a community focussed AI initiative supported by Hexagon will be a good activity as a part of the year long programme.

"We will be working out the modalities of this (upcoming) centre, including how it will be operationlised, what kind of AI problems will be given to the students and other enthusiasts who join this lab.

Discussions will happen in the coming few months on who will mentor and guide them to work out the solutions,"he said.

Claudio Simao, group Chief Technology Officer, Hexagon AB said they would further expand their presence in Hyderabad.

Team Yodha - Malla Reddy Engineering College for Women, Hyderabad, were declared winners for a smart voting system using block chain, where voter can do online voting while four other teams were awarded distinctive ideas certificates.