Academia-Industry Collaborations Rising!

Greetings Friends!

We are currently living in somewhat desperate times! With the Corona Virus in full flow, the Indian government has ordered a 21-day lockdown period.

Nevertheless, let’s look at what’s happening in the technology domain.

This Dataquest issue is focused on T-Schools or Technology Schools. It is well known that there are openings for disruptive or critical thinking, and innovative methods for problem solving. It is also said that there should be more focus on making the students in the T-Schools to think in an innovative manner, while solving problems. There is work going on to reduce the skill gap that students face, as and when they join the workforce of some company.

There should be regular curriculum revision as per the needs of the industry, mandatory internship, examination reforms, innovation, student activities in life skills, soft skills, industry relevant projects, mandatory accreditation, etc. Even the various teachers and heads of departments (HoDs) are said to be going through rigorous internship programs to coach the students in an industry-specific manner.

In this regard, Intel has come to the forefront. It has teamed up with the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) to make the youth artificial intelligence (AI)ready. The initiatives include the roll-out of an AI curriculum for classes VIII, IX and X, for 22,000 schools. The aim is to empower about 100,000 students within 2020 itself. Intel has also launched India’s first AI skills lab in collaboration with Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan. Intel and CBSE are also slated to launch a National AI Olympiad to motivate young students.

Some other things have happened too! IIT Kharagpur (IIT-K) and Wipro are doing applied research in AI and 5G. OPPO has partnered with IIT-Hyderabad for joint R&D projects in 5G. Samsung India has set-up innovation centres in different IITs. It has also set-up a digital academy at IIT Guwahati for training in AI and IoT. IIT Roorkee has partnered with Microsoft, and conducting lectures for BTech and MTech students on quantum computing. ISRO is going to set up a space technology centre at IIT Delhi.

There is a need to constantly evolve the content for any specific course to be in line with the industry advancements. Colleges should be giving more weightage to the industry-specific learnings, to make the students job-ready from their very first day.