To what extent, the Frontier Technologies Cloud Innovation Center (CIC) set up by NITI Aayog can address societal challenges? Examine critically.

NITI Aayog along with Amazon Web Services have recently set up a Frontier Technologies Cloud Innovation Center (CIC) that will work on addressing societal challenges around areas like agriculture and healthcare through digital innovation. The NITI Aayog Frontier Technologies Cloud Innovation Center is the first AWS CIC in India. Its utility can be understand through below points –

• India, as one nation, has the scale and required talent pool to use cloud technology to address problems of civilian nature and transform public services for citizens.
• CIC program is designed to be a catalyst for innovation in public sector, by bringing together technology experts to address challenges.
• CIC program will collaborate with NITI Aayog and support its public sector mission in India. CIC will assist Centre to accelerate innovation in the areas of agriculture, healthcare and skill development through technology innovation and its execution.
• The AWS Cloud Innovation Centers Global Program works with government agencies, academic institutions and non-profits to apply design thinking methodology to test new ideas and collaborate on challenge.
• The CIC addresses a core mission to identify and deploy leading edge technologies to drive continuous innovation in delivering citizen services. The centre will work to identify and prioritize projects as well as collaborate with local leaders, including subject matter experts at the state and district level to solve critical societal challenges.
• Local enterprises, start-ups, researchers and universities in India will experiment and build prototypes on AWS Cloud and contribute along with the global CIC community dedicated to accelerating societal innovation.

CIC program has the potential to contribute public sector organizations in India achieve transformational economic and societal impact. It can revolutionize the way public services are provided to common Indians through technology advancement.