The Odisha government has signed an MoU with the University of California, Berkeley, to collaborate on the areas of research, impact assessment of schemes, entrepreneurship and exchange of academic publications.
At present, a delegation comprising private secretary to the chief minister and secretary 5-T (transformation initiatives) V.K. Pandian, development commissioner Anu Garg, principal secretary, electronics and IT, Manoj Mishra, minister Electronics and IT Tusharkanti Behera and others are on a visit to the US to bring investment to the state, particularly in the field of electronics and IT.
The delegation visited the University of California, Berkeley on Tuesday and met the executive director of Fisher Center for Business Analytics, Gauthier Vasseur and the acting dean, Hass School of Business, Dr Don Moore.
“An MoU was concluded between the government of Odisha and UC Berkeley highlighting cooperation in areas of research, impact assessment of schemes, entrepreneurship, and exchange of academic publication. As part of the understanding, the Government of Odisha and UC, Berkeley will collaborate on research projects and jointly organise conferences and workshops. Special emphasis will be on joint training workshops in high-tech areas and approximately 1,000 researchers are likely to be trained. This MoU will also enable the government to connect with UC, Berkeley’s illustrious alumni network for collaboration on various initiatives,” said a press release issued by the chief minister’s office (CMO).
In the first phase of cooperation, pilot projects will be launched in areas such as disaster management and climate control, healthcare, fintech and agriculture. Partnerships in emerging-tech areas such as Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning and generative AI within the governance system will bring more transformation in public delivery mechanisms.
Collaboration on joint initiatives such as student exchange programmes, start-up exchange programmes, and start-up acceleration programs is also expected in the coming days.
