Gujarat has opened its first Green Skills & Applied AI Centre of Excellence (CoE) at L.D. College of Engineering (LDCE), Navrangpura, Ahmedabad, as the state looks to build a talent pipeline for its fast-growing semiconductor and advanced-technology industry.
The centre has been set up by the Government of Gujarat, through the Gujarat Knowledge Society (GKS), with the 1M1B (One Million for One Billion) Foundation, MeitY Startup Hub and Microsoft. It is part of a three-year partnership between GKS and 1M1B that aims to train and engage up to 3 lakh young people in applied artificial intelligence, green skills, sustainability and emerging technologies.
The inauguration was attended by Mukesh Kumar Sharma, Additional Chief Secretary, Higher & Technical Education, Government of Gujarat; Dilip Kumar Rana, Commissioner, Higher & Technical Education and CEO of the Knowledge Consortium of Gujarat; Manav Subodh, Founder and Chief Mentor of 1M1B Foundation; and Dr Nilay N. Bhupatani, Principal of LDCE, along with government and industry representatives and student changemakers.
What the centre will teach
- Applied AI and clean energy, hands-on: practical learning in applied AI, solar energy, electric vehicles and wind energy.
- Green semiconductor manufacturing: how chip and electronics production can cut its environmental footprint through efficient energy and resource use, responsible water management, waste reduction and sustainable production.
- AI on the factory floor: how AI and emerging technologies can support process optimisation, quality control and resource efficiency in industrial operations.
- Industry pathways: mentoring, internships and potential employment links with semiconductor and electronics companies.
The timing is tied to Gujarat’s industrial map. With semiconductor investments taking shape in Dholera and Sanand, the state is positioning itself as a key node in India’s electronics value chain, and the CoE is meant to give young people the skills those plants and their suppliers will need.
What the partners said
Dr Pradyuman Ganubhai Vaja, Gujarat’s Cabinet Minister for Higher and Technical Education, said that as the state emerges as a semiconductor hub, sustainability must remain central to its progress, and that the centre would equip youth with future-ready skills to apply AI and green technologies to real-world challenges.
Manju Dhasmana, Senior Director – Elevate CSR at Microsoft, said the Ahmedabad centre would connect learning in applied AI and green skills with emerging opportunities across Gujarat’s technology ecosystem, in line with Microsoft Elevate’s focus on AI and jobs.
Manav Subodh of 1M1B said the partnership was designed to prepare young people for opportunities in the state’s green semiconductor and advanced-technology sector through industry-linked learning.
Part of a five-city network
Ahmedabad is the fourth of five Green Skills & Applied AI Centres of Excellence being set up by 1M1B Foundation and Microsoft in collaboration with MeitY Startup Hub, after Bengaluru, Lucknow and Hyderabad. A fifth centre is scheduled to open in Noida next week. Together, the network aims to engage 1,00,000 young people in applied AI and green skills by 2030. Microsoft will support the centres with AI technologies, digital learning resources, employee mentorship, innovation challenges and capacity building under its CSR programme, while 1M1B will run implementation.
Why it matters
Most AI skilling in Indian colleges still sits inside computer science departments. Anchoring a centre at one of Gujarat’s oldest government engineering colleges, and pairing applied AI with clean-energy and green-manufacturing skills, links campus learning directly to the jobs the state’s semiconductor push is expected to create. The real test will be how many of the targeted 3 lakh learners move into internships and roles with the industry partners the centre promises.
0 Comments
Sign in or create an account to join the discussion.