Costa says AI accelerating pace of scientific discovery
Shodh AI, selected as one of the twelve foundational model companies under the Government’s prestigious IndiaAI Mission, has launched Project Skanda which was developed in collaboration with NVIDIA to mark India’s entry into the global race for Physical AI.
As an “AI for Science” company currently targeting material discovery, Shodh AI unveiled the Alpha Release of Project Skanda — one of the world’s first Mesoscale Foundation Models for Energy Storage — at the AI Impact Summit held in Delhi.
While traditional AI models focus on atomic chemistry, Skanda targets the “Mesoscale” — the invisible structural architecture inside a battery cell that determines its life, safety, and charging speed. The model is trained specifically for battery clients to drastically accelerate their discovery process.
According to Dr Arastu Sharma, CEO of Shodh AI, Project Skanda leverages NVIDIA Hopper GPUs and the PhysicsNeMo framework to bridge the gap between theory and manufacturing.
“Currently, you can upload an SEM image into the model, and it will predict the battery life cycle. Within a year, we aim to enable users to simply ask for a new battery chemistry, and Skanda will provide the methodology to make it,” Dr Arastu said on 19 Feb. “Right now, it takes our clients nearly ten years and millions of dollars to develop a new material. Our goal is to compress that timeline to six months for a new material, all within a million dollars.”
Tim Costa, General Manager at NVIDIA, highlighted the significance of the collaboration, stating, “AI is accelerating the pace of scientific discovery. Shodh AI’s use of NVIDIA technology provides a powerful foundation for building sovereign AI models that can help transform India’s energy and technology sectors.”
By combining cutting-edge artificial intelligence with robotic automation, Shodh AI is positioning itself as a key player in India’s journey toward becoming a global scientific leader.
At the heart of this initiative is a vision shared by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi — that India should not only use technology developed elsewhere but create its own. “Our interaction with the Hon’ble Prime Minister reinforced a clear vision: India must not just consume technology, but create it,” said Dr. Arastu. He noted that Project Skanda represents a strategic shift toward “Invent in India.” Shodh AI has been given a broader mandate to build the ‘scientific brain’ of the nation, earning direct recognition from Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi for its leadership in developing India’s foundational technologies.
Shodh AI is now shifting the focus from Large Language Models to Large Science Models. Powered by its collaboration with NVIDIA, the same core technology is poised to redefine healthcare and biotechnology. In deep tech and material sciences, Shodh AI is bridging the gap between theory and reality through India’s first Autonomous Robotic Material Foundry, where AI not only predicts next-generation quantum materials and bio-compatible implants but autonomously synthesizes them.
This marks a strategic transition from “Make in India” to “Invent in India,” ensuring that the nation does not merely participate in the future of technology, but actively builds it, said Shodh AI which stands as a testament to this vision: built in India, built for the world for the next AI race of science. Fiinews.com
