IIT Jodhpur celebrates Third Industry Day 2023 to establish links between industries and academic research programs
JODHPUR : Indian Institute of Technology Jodhpur organized Industry Day 2023 on 3rd and 4th February 2023 with an objective to establish links between industries and its academic and research programs. The two-day event engaged policymakers, scientists, industry experts, and entrepreneurs in meaningful discussions and formulates a way forward for stronger industry-academia linkages. The details of the event can be found here – http://home.iitj.ac.in/~id2023/ .
The Institute has created a vibrant ecosystem to enable sponsored and industrial research opportunities not only for faculties but also for students to contribute to multi-disciplinary projects and R&D for solving problems of industrial interest. The main themes of the event were MedTech & Healthcare, Technologies for Sustainability, Sensors and IoT, Resilient and Smart Infrastructure, Dependable and Responsible AI, Robotics and Mobility, Intelligent and Neuro-marketing, AR-VR and Metaverse, Hydrogen Economy and Industry 4.0.
Talking about the significance of Industry-Academia collaboration, Prof. Santanu Chaudhury, Director, IIT Jodhpur, said, “This is for the first time we are having industry day in physical mode post covid. The main objective of this event is to have industry connect, as we all know that the academic system cannot prevail in isolation. Industries and academic institutes together construct the innovation ecosystem of the country. IIT Jodhpur now has ongoing projects of over Rs. 100 crore value with different organizations including industries. We have section 8 companies such as iHub Drishti and Jodhpur City Knowledge and Innovation Foundation (JCKIF) working hand in hand with innovators and industry people.”
He further added, “We have the School of Artificial Intelligence and Data Sciences, School of Management and Entrepreneurship and various interdisciplinary platforms which run industry focussed PhD, MSc and MTech programs. The academic philosophy of IIT Jodhpur is responding to exponential changes in technology and society. Our main objective, therefore, is to inculcate entrepreneurship in the regular curriculum.”
The key objectives of Industry Day 2023 at IIT Jodhpur were:
· Provide an avenue for potential collaboration opportunities between Industry and IIT Jodhpur
· Create awareness about different research, projects and resources of industry interests being undertaken by IIT Jodhpur
· Create a platform to discuss the technological challenges industries are facing
· Initiation of long-term relationships with industries
Sharing the importance of industry-academia collaboration, Mr. Pradeep Khanna, Executive Director, The VR/AR Association, said, “Our focus should be on ‘Responsible Artificial Intelligence’. We need industry-academia collaboration to make sure the engineers of tomorrow are ready to face the challenges of the fast-paced world. I am glad to see IIT Jodhpur is the first IIT to start MTech in AR-VR to impart skills to the future of the country to meet the needs of the industry. IIT Jodhpur is emerging as a global centre of excellence.”
Speaking about the significance of the Industry Day 2023, Dr. Gaurav Bhatnagar, Associate Dean, International Relations and Outreach, IIT Jodhpur, said, “The main purpose of this event is to provide a platform to engage closely with industries on different aspects such as joint research projects, engagement of students, and faculty members with industries. It provided a platform to discuss the technological challenges industries are facing and eventually initiating long term relationships with industries in pursuit to address the challenges.”
The celebration included various events such as plenary talk, thematic session, panel discussion and poster symposium. Prof. Santanu Chaudhury delivered the opening remarks and set the context, and also informed different initiatives of IIT Jodhpur. The plenary talk was delivered by Mr. Virendra Gupta, CEO, VerSe Innovation and he said: “The emphasis should be on Building Industries and IIT Jodhpur’s initiatives of inculcating entrepreneurship as an integral component of the curriculum are playing a vital role into it. He then discussed, inspired by his entrepreneurial journey, exciting opportunities and possibilities in the life span of entrepreneurship.” Afterward, the thematic sessions witnessed participation from over 40 industries across the globe including Ms. Anna Roy, NITI Aayog, Mr. Ashwini Aggarwal, Applied Materials India Pvt. Ltd., Dr. Jane Leighton, NielsenIQ BASES Neuro, Mr. Rajendra Inani, TATA Projects, Dr. Simon See, NVIDIA, Shri Pradeep Khanna, Global Mindset, Dr Vijay Chandru, Strand Life Sciences, Dr. A. A. Parshilkar, CSIR-NAL, Dr Satyanarayana Murthy, CSIR-NAL, Prof. VM Chariar, Ekam Eco Solutions, Shri Suresh Perinjery, PTC and Dr. Sandeep KC, BARC. The poster symposium was one of the event’s other attractions. The motive of the poster symposium was to exhibit ongoing state-of-the-art research projects and innovations. To motivate the young minds, Best Poster Awards were also presented. The best poster awards were selected by a panel of judges who assessed the posters based on their scientific content, visual presentation, and overall impact. We are glad to report that there were 134 posters presented across the themes.