Hyderabad: Japanese Research Institute, IIT-H renew MoU

Hyderabad: Japan's National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) and Indian Institute of Technology-Hyderabad (IIT-H) have renewed a bilateral memorandum of understanding (MoU).

An IIT-H communique on Thursday said that it would further strengthen the relationship and the collaborative activities between the two organisations. The AIST's Artificial Intelligence Research Center (AIRC) and IIT-H established a working relationship in Artificial Intelligence through a MoU signed on October 29, 2018. Over the past three years, the cooperation led to many research projects; AIRC hosted many student interns. IIT-H students worked on joint projects related to machine learning, deep learning, data mining, and other AI themes.

The renewed MOU covers joint scientific and technological cooperation in areas, including, but not limited, to machine learning and probabilistic reasoning techniques for various data types and their combinations, Activities include organising seminars, symposia, or other types of discussions; co-guidance for IIT-H intern-students participating in joint activities; scientist, staff, and researcher exchanges; and collaborative research projects of mutual interest, it added. Junichi Tsujii, Director, AIRC said "the cooperation between IIT-H and AIRC started in 2018 when the then director of IITH Dr Uday B. Desai, visited Japan with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and signed the first MoU. Since then, AIRC has received researchers from IIT-H who have given invited talks at AIRC's international symposia and exchanged research ideas with AIRC. Based on the collaborative discussions, AIRC hosted five intern-students whose works contributed to the progress of the joint research endeavours of the two institutions."

Prof B S Murty, IIT-H director, said it is one of the pioneering academic institutes in the country especially in the field of AI & ML. We have gauged the importance of AI well in advance. We are the first to start an undergraduate (B Tech) programme in AI. We are also the first in the country to have a complete department of AI that offers B Tech, M Tech & PhD in AI with 25+ young and dynamic faculty. Collaborations with institutes, like AIST, is a step in the right direction to establish a global centre of excellence for AI & ML at IIT-H and thus to serve society well with its changing needs".