Smart India Hackathon 2020: PM Modi highlights research ecosystem, innovation, and AI

The government is focusing on the quality of education and building an ecosystem for innovation, design, research, development, and enterprise, said Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday. He also said that Artificial Intelligence (AI) can play a big role in making technology effective, interactive, and people-friendly.

While addressing students participating in the Smart India Hackathon 2020, he said, "We have been proud of giving the best scientists, technicians, and technology enterprise leaders to the world in the past decades. This is the 21st century and India has to change itself in this rapidly evolving world to perform the same effective role."

"With this thought, an essential ecosystem for innovation, design, research, development, and enterprise is being created rapidly in the country. We are focussing on the quality of education in India. Our attempts have been to make our education system the most advanced and modern," said Modi.

PM Modi stressed on the importance of artificial intelligence and said, "To make our facilities, effective, interactive and people-friendly, Artificial Intelligence (AI) can be a huge facilitator."

He said the effort is that India's education should become more modern and talent should get the full opportunity.

The effort is to make India's education more modern, be it the Pradhan Mantri E-Vidya Karyakram, the Atal innovation mission, the increase in scientific temperament, the expansion of scholarship in various areas of the country, creating new resources for online education or campaigns like the Smart India Hackathon, PM Modi said.

PM Modi said that this hackathon is not the first problem that youngsters have tried to solve. "Nor is this the last. I want you and youngsters like you not to stop doing three things: learning, questioning, solving. When you learn, you get the wisdom to question," he said.

The Smart India Hackathon 2020 (Software) is being held from 1 to 3 August. Owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, the finale of the hackathon would be conducted online.

(With ANI inputs)