Google has entered into a collaborative partnership with the Government of Maharashtra to advance innovative and scalable solutions in key sectors, including agriculture, healthcare, sustainability, education, and startups, the company said in a press release. The collaboration aims to harness the benefits of artificial intelligence (AI) and contribute to the development of the state. The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed by Sanjay Gupta, Country Head & Vice President, Google India, and Nitin Kareer, Chief Secretary of Maharashtra.
Under the agreement, the Government of Maharashtra will leverage Google’s AI leadership and technological expertise to explore new possibilities in land record management, disease detection, urban environment resilience, and AI upskilling, among other areas.
The government will establish a state-of-the-art AI Center of Excellence at IIIT Nagpur as part of the collaboration.
Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said, "We see AI as the key to unlocking a more prosperous, equitable, and sustainable future for the State and are excited to partner with Google on this journey.”
Sanjay Gupta, Country Head & VP, Google India, stated, “We aim to empower citizens, create new opportunities, foster a thriving innovation ecosystem, and bring the transformative power of AI to the people of Maharashtra.”
Key Areas of Collaboration
AI Innovation and Entrepreneurship: Google will support the AI ecosystem in Maharashtra by providing startups with mentorship, networking opportunities, and demo days with Google experts and industry leaders. Select startups will have the chance to connect with investors. Google's AI Startup programme will offer eligible VC-funded AI startups with Cloud credits, technical training, and business support.
AI Skilling: Google will assist government-led skills training and education initiatives by launching high-demand skills courses on YouTube, providing a train-the-trainer programme for educators, and equipping 500 government IT professionals with conversational AI skills through Google Cloud.
AI for Healthcare: The collaboration aims to explore the adoption of human-centred AI in healthcare by utilizing helpful medical AI tools for population-scale impact. Google and its partners will engage with the state to provide state-of-the-art Health AI imaging models, such as TB-Chest X-Ray and Diabetic Retinopathy, to increase access to care through AI-enabled screening.
AI for Agriculture: Google will provide the state with its Agricultural Landscape Understanding (ALU) API, offering in-depth insights about farmland using remote sensing AI/ML technology. This data will support the development of innovative, data-driven agricultural initiatives in the state.
Sustainability: The collaboration will focus on sharing AI-powered tools for environmental resilience, including real-time air pollution monitoring with air quality sensors, training city planners to leverage AI-powered building footprints, and using Google AI to optimise traffic lights under Project Greenlight, aiming to improve urban mobility and reduce carbon emissions.
In addition, Google Cloud’s AI and machine learning technologies will be explored to enable the development of pilot solutions for citizen questions and feedback, government scheme access, and an AI-powered pilot for farmer assistance in Maharashtra.
