Cisco, a U.S.-based firm, that makes networking telecommunications equipment, has signed two agreements with the NITI Aayog and Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) to speed up its Country Digital Acceleration programme in India. “The current set of investments will focus on fostering innovation and entrepreneurship through the Atal Innovation Mission and in developing use cases to showcase the possibilities of 5G in citizen services and application of innovative digital technologies in transportation modernisation,” according to a statement from Cisco.
Cisco has made over 25 strategic investments in growth stage companies in India. To further support the start-up ecosystem in India, Cisco signed an agreement with NITI Aayog to boost connectivity and collaboration across all 100 Atal Incubation Centers in the country. These solutions converge voice, chat, video meetings, group messaging, file sharing, and whiteboarding securely, all in one platform.
Cisco Webex Teams and Cisco Sparkboard will facilitate information exchange and collaboration among all Atal Incubation Centres in India and Cisco’s other incubation and innovation centers across the world enabling entrepreneurs to build businesses, innovate and go global with digital solutions. To facilitate new citizen services, especially in government and public sector, Cisco signed an agreement with BSNL to set up a dedicated location to demonstrate use cases using 5G to solve citizen problems in areas such as education, healthcare and agriculture using technologies such as IoT, surveillance, and Artificial Intelligence.
“India is going through a transformational journey, with initiatives like Digital India and Smart Cities helping to power its digital economy,” Chuck Robbins, chairman, and CEO of Cisco said. “The next initiatives in Cisco’s Country Digital Acceleration (CDA) program underline our commitment to help accelerate India’s ecosystem of talent, entrepreneurship, and innovation, all of which can continue to help drive economic growth. We are thrilled to collaborate with the NITI Aayog and BSNL to bring greater value to India and its citizens.”
