Key Agreement with Australia for AI Centre : Minister D Sridhar Babu

Key Agreement with Australia to Establish AI Centre of Excellence

–  IT & Industries Minister Duddilla Sridhar Babu

Hyderabad, December 05: The Government of Telangana on Friday signed a significant agreement to establish a Centre of Excellence in Artificial Intelligence in partnership with Australia’s Deakin University. This will be the first-of-its-kind skill development centre in the country dedicated to advanced AI capabilities.

Addressing the media at the Secretariat along with Australia’s Minister for International Education, Julian Hill, IT & Industries Minister Duddilla Sridhar Babu shared details of the MoU. He announced that the Centre of Excellence will be set up within the upcoming AI University at the Future City.

The Deakin Applied Artificial Intelligence Institute will jointly run this Centre of Excellence with the Telangana Government. The Minister stated that the objective of this collaboration is not merely to produce academic graduates, but to create globally competitive, highly skilled professionals. The partnership with the Australian government reflects this vision.

Sridhar Babu said that this agreement is part of Chief Minister Revanth Reddy’s ongoing efforts to bring leading international universities to Telangana. The new Centre of Excellence will support research and advanced skill development across key sectors such as governance, healthcare, education, IT, life sciences, agriculture, critical minerals, and rare earth metals. Telangana, he said, is poised to become a gateway for the future of Digital India.

“Arrangements for skill development are also being made across major educational institutions in the state. During my recent visit to Australia, we invited Deakin University to establish a campus in Telangana. The state has an innovation-friendly ecosystem, and this Centre of Excellence will further strengthen it. Australia has also agreed to offer high-end skill training for working professionals from Telangana in their country,” the Minister added.

Government IT Advisor I. Saikrishna, along with Australian representatives Cam Green, Karen Sandercock, Nathaniel Webb, Steven Biddle, Hilary McGeachy, Steven Connelly, Vikram Singh, and IT Department Chief Strategist Srikanth Lanka, participated in the MoU event.