IIT Guwahati was centre of attraction as Union Minister of State for Civil Aviation launched Indias’ first Center for Excellence in Research on Drone/UAV Technology and Artificial Intelligence, Skill development Center for Drone/UAV operation and maintenance, Nodal Center for overall administrative Drone Data management for NE region and ‘AXOMDroneports,’ which will be used to support cargo drones delivering urgent medical and emergency supplies to remote areas of the North East.

This Droneport was among the four initiatives inaugurated by the Hon’ble Minister of State at IIT Guwahati to promote the development and adoption of drone technology in the North-Eastern Region.

This program was jointly organised by IIT Guwahati and FICCI. These initiatives will address various aspects of the development and implementation of drone technology such as technological advancements, training, legal aspects, administrative management, logistics, and adoption for the benefit of the entire region and the country.

Speaking during the inaugural event at IIT Guwahati Union Minister of State V.K. Singh said ‘I assure you that the Government will leave no stone unturned.’

Having understood the remarkable potential of Drones to transform every sector of the Economy, the Government of India, under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi ji, has brought out the New Drone Rules in August 2021 and has followed it up with a Production Linked Incentive Scheme (PLI) Scheme for manufacturers, he said.

Our Focus is to develop India’s capabilities as an important and integral value multiplier to the global drone ecosystem, he said. Union Minister of State for Civil Aviation further said drones offer tremendous benefits to almost all sectors of the economy.

‘They can be significant creators of employment and economic growth due to their reach, versatility, and ease of use, especially in India’s remote and inaccessible areas.’

It’s encouraging to see the IITs of our country take some timely initiatives in this direction. I pay my regards to the people who are driving the growth of drones in India, he said.

IIT Guwahati director Professor T.G.Sitharam said IIT Guwahati has taken the lead and made a significant contribution in self-reliance (Atmanirbhar Bharat) in several sectors and has been focusing on various technology-based development projects for the benefit of the region.

Utilizing the salient features which Drone assisted technology offers, the remote and difficult terrains in the entire northeast region can be brought within reach during any emergency, said IIT Guwahati director.

IIT Guwahati will share its research expertise, impart skill development, set-up a droneport and provide all administrative support and fulfil the vision of PM of India Narendra Modiji to realize the potential of India to be global drone hub by 2030, he said.

Chairman of FICCI Assam State Council Mr. Dipankar Barua said north-eastern region of the country is on a progressive track and welcomes use of drone technology for overall development and especially in areas like Border Security, Agriculture, Health, Tourism, Mining and Infrastructure.

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FICCI has been closely working with MoCA throughout the process of policy transformation, supporting the Ministry with its inputs in form of white papers and policy recommendations.

We will continue to support government machinery and industry in all possible ways to make India a drone hub, he said.

The IIT Guwahati Centre for Excellence for Drones/UAV and Artificial Intelligence addresses a broad spectrum of technical and social concerns related to drone technology.

It has been established with the vision to design and develop the most advanced indigenous drones for solving the northeast region’s most persistent problems and contributing to the nation’s technological achievements.

Along with the Technology Incubation Hub where research on underwater drones is also being carried out, this centre will utilize the diverse expertise available across the institute to provide thrust in the development of drones/UAVs, software platforms, data collation and analysis as well as creating broad application base.

It will also assist innovators and start-ups in their research and development activities. In addition to this, the centre will work on the ideation and implementation of drone policies and regulations.

Similarly, the testing and due certification of drones will also be one of the organization’s focuses. Already two Drone-based start-ups are setting up their labs at IIT Guwahati Research Park.

Union Minister of State inaugurated the Skill Development Center for North East followed by AXOMDroneports and Nodal Centre for North East.
The Skill Development Center for North East will work in collaboration with the State Government, Ministry of Home Affairs Government of India, Ministry of Defense Government of India, and relevant industrial partners for capacity building and advanced training.

It will provide professional UAV training to Government and Private organizations, including users such as farmers, security personnel, disaster relief and management, high power fault detection and remote.

Apart from providing technical training to operate the drones, the centre will also be responsible for the training of rules and regulations. This will create a career opportunity for the youth of the regions and help the adoption of drone technology for the benefit of common people living in difficult terrain.

Nodal Centre for North East will be responsible for the overall administrative management for the northeast region, drafting policies frameworks with State Governments to build a sustainable UAV industry in India. It will promote and strive towards building a safer and scalable environment in the unmanned aviation industry in the northeast.

It will engage with researchers, Thought Leaders, Industry experts, Visionaries, and policymakers to share their expertise to achieve its goals.

About IIT Guwahati

Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Guwahati established in 1994 has completed 25 years of glorious existence in 2019.

At present, the Institute has eleven departments, five inter-disciplinary academic centres and four schools covering all the major engineering, science and humanities disciplines, offering BTech, BDes, MA, MDes, MTech, MSc and PhD programmes.

The institute offers a residential campus to 412 faculty members and more than 6,000 students at present.

Besides its laurels in teaching and research, IIT Guwahati has been able to fulfil the aspirations of people of the North East region to a great extent since its inception in 1994.

The picturesque campus is on a sprawling 285 hectares plot on the north bank of the Brahmaputra, around 20 kms from the heart of the Guwahati city.

IIT Guwahati is the only academic institution in India that occupied a place among the top 100 world universities – under 50 years of age – ranked by the London-based Times Higher Education (THE) in the year 2014 and continues to maintain its superior position even today in various International Rankings.

IIT Guwahati gained rank 41 globally in the ‘Research Citations per Faculty’ category and overall 395 rank in the QS World University Rankings 2022 released recently.

IIT Guwahati has retained the 7th position among the best engineering institutions of the country in the ‘India Rankings 2019’ declared by National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) of the Union ministry of Human Resource Development (HRD).

IIT Guwahati has been also ranked 2nd in the ‘Swachhata Ranking’ conducted by the Govt. of India. Recently, IIT Guwahati has been ranked as the top-ranked University in 2019 for IT developers by HackerRank in the Asia-Pacific region.

Pooja Singh

(Full bio)