Software giant Microsoft on Thursday launched Artificial Intelligence (AI)-enabled digital labs in collaboration with 10 higher educational institutions in India.

The programme, 'Intelligent Cloud Hub', covers institutes including BITS Pilani, SRM Institute of Science and Technology and Trident Academy of Technology among others.

"With the right technology infrastructure, curriculum and training, we can empower today's students to build the India of tomorrow," said Anant Maheshwari, President, Microsoft India.

As part of the three-year programme, Microsoft would support the selected institutions with best-in-class infrastructure, curriculum and content, access to Cloud, AI services as well as developer support.

In addition, the company would also facilitate setting up of core AI infrastructure and Internet of Things (IoT) hub along with providing access to a wide range of Azure AI services like Microsoft Cognitive Services, Azure Machine Learning (ML) and Bot Services.

Training programmes designed for faculty would include workshops on Cloud computing, data sciences, AI and IoT.

According to a recent Microsoft and International Data Corporation (IDC) Asia-Pacific study, the lack of skills, resources and continuous learning programmes have emerged as top challenges faced by Indian organisations in adopting AI to accelerate their businesses.