Budget 2018: Artificial intelligence, IoT, 3D printing, 5G get a thumbs up

Niti Aayog, the main policy think tank of the government, will direct the Centre's efforts to research on new technologies such as Internet of Things, artificial intelligence and 3D printing in various areas, finance minister Arun Jaitley said on Thursday. "Global economy is transforming into a digital economy thanks to development of cutting-edge technologies in digital space – machine learning, artificial intelligence, internet of things, 3D printing and the like," he said in his budget speech. Jaitley said the NITI Aayog will initiate a national programme to direct the government's efforts in the area of artificial intelligence and that the Department of Science and Technology will launch a Cyber Physical Systems Mission to establish centres of excellence to train people in robotics, AI, digital manufacturing, big data analytics, quantum communication and Internet of Things. He also said that the government was doubling the allocation for the Digital India programme to Rs 3,073 crore for 2018-19. The budget also proposed to set up five lakh WiFi hotspots to provide broadband access to five crore rural citizens. Besides, the budget has allocated Rs 10,000 crore to create and augment telecom infrastructure for the next year.