IIT Delhi establishes artificial intelligence chair

New Delhi : Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) here signed an MoU with professors Soumitra Dutta and Lourdes Casanova for the constitution of "The Soumitra Dutta Chair in Artificial Intelligence".The two academicians have pledged a support of Rs one crore for the purpose.

The Chair has been named after Soumitra Dutta, who is a distinguished alumnus of IIT Delhi, and it is envisaged to promote excellence and leadership in teaching, research and development in the field of artificial intelligence and to facilitate wider and deeper interaction between the industry and IIT Delhi faculty and students. "I am very grateful to faculty of IIT Delhi for the valuable education they provided to me and I am glad to contribute to the future academic excellence of IIT Delhi," Dutta said.

Lourdes Casanova, a renowned academician working at Cornell University, said, "The chair recognises the important role of artificial intelligence in shaping the future of India and supports the aspirations of IIT Delhi for leadership in this important domain." Dutta received a B.Tech degree in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science in 1985 from IIT Delhi and earned a Ph.D in Computer Science from the University of California in Berkeley. He is an authority on the impact of new technology on the business world with a special focus on strategies for driving growth and innovation in the digital economy. Dutta is best known for being the architect of the Global Innovation Index, which now has become the global standard among innovation indices.