IBM renews partnership with IISc Bengaluru, IIT Bombay to further AI and hybrid cloud research

IT services major IBM announced the renewal of its research partnership with the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Bombay, and the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore, aiming to spearhead developments in hybrid cloud and artificial intelligence (AI) on Wednesday.

Dr. Amith Singhee, Director of IBM Research India, noted that this strategic collaboration builds on the existing initiatives between these prestigious institutions and IBM. He said,  "Collaboration fuels innovation, and our collaboration with IIT Bombay and IISc Bangalore underscores the importance of combining diverse expertise. By merging IBM's technological prowess with the cutting-edge research skills of these prestigious institutions, we foster a collaborative ecosystem that pushes the boundaries of scientific discovery."

IBM's partnership with IIT Bombay goes back to 2018, with the inclusion of the IBM AI Horizon Network in the Indian engineering college. Subsequently, in 2021, IBM and IISc Bangalore inaugurated the IBM-IISc Hybrid Cloud lab, further focusing on advancing research in hybrid cloud technologies to foster innovation in this domain.

The company noted in a release that the core objective of this partnership is to foster innovation and offer pragmatic solutions to complex global challenges by harnessing the intellectual prowess of students, faculty, and industry researchers.

Prof. Sachin Patwardhan, Dean (R&D) at IIT Bombay, explained, "The synergy between the abundant talent in IIT Bombay and a technological leader like IBM can not only expand the horizons of knowledge but also address problems of national importance, such as affordable healthcare, educational outreach, and smart management of growing industrial and urban infrastructure."

The collaboration between the IT major and two of India’s prestigious institutes would focus on Natural Language Processing, Generative AI for Time Series, Combatting Fake News, Hybrid Cloud Optimization, and Sustainable Computing.

IISc’s Prof. Yogesh Simmhan, who is an Associate Professor in the Department of Computational and Data Sciences, noted, "The engagement with IBM researchers is helping us explore some of the practical dimensions of the research challenges in Cloud platforms and sustainability, and investigate the means to democratize access to quantum hardware in the Cloud for scientific and enterprise applications."

It is worth noting that the existing collaborations between the IT company and the educational instituitions have resulted in numerous research publications, MTech and PhD theses.