New Delhi, Oct 19 (IANS): Amazon Web Services (AWS), the cloud arm of e-commerce giant Amazon, on Monday partnered with government think tank Niti Aayog to establish its first Cloud Innovation Centre (CIC) in India which will help address societal challenges through digital innovation.

The Niti Aayog Frontier Technologies Cloud Innovation Centre is the 12th AWS CIC around the world, and the first such centre that will address societal challenges at a national level.

The AWS Cloud Innovation Centres Global Programme provides an opportunity for government agencies, nonprofits, and education institutions, to collaborate on pressing challenges, apply design thinking methodology, test new ideas, and access technology expertise from AWS.

"We are seeing public sector organizations around the world use cloud technology to innovate in a fast and agile manner, address problems at scale, and transform public services for citizens," Max Peterson, Vice President, International Sales, Worldwide Public Sector, Amazon Web Services, said in a statement.

"Our Cloud Innovation Centres (CIC) programme is designed to be a catalyst for innovation in public sector, by bringing together technology experts to address challenges. We are excited to collaborate with NITI Aayog, and support its public sector mission in India."

The NITI Aayog Frontier Technologies 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, startups, 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.

"The NITI Aayog Frontier Technologies Cloud Innovation Centre with AWS will bring together government stakeholders, startups, and local organisations in India to innovate and create new approaches to solving problems," said Anna Roy, Senior Adviser, NITI Aayog.

"Through the CIC programme, we have the opportunity to experiment with the latest technology, and access world-class innovation expertise that will help us advance citizen services, and better understand how frontier technologies can address the unique needs of our country."