Adding to its list of strategic agreements with the industry to boost academic and research activities, the Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IITM) has inked a joint development agreement (JDA) with Applied Materials India to carry out research in artificial intelligence, machine learning and data Sciences.

The agreement was signed by Krishnan Balasubramanian, dean, Industrial Consultancy and Sponsored Research, IITM, and Srinivas Satya, country president and managing director at Applied Materials India. The industrial areas that can gain from this understanding include pharmaceuticals  and semiconductors.

In yet another collaboration between #Industry and #Academia, @iitmadras has signed signed a Joint Development Agreement with Applied Materials India to conduct research in #DataSciences, #MachineLearning & #AI . Semiconductors, #Pharma and Display set to benefit. @Applied_Blog pic.twitter.com/TpNrIzwZXS

— IIT Madras (@iitmadras) February 28, 2018

“We look forward to collaborating with Applied Materials in the fast-expanding field of AI. IIT Madras is already a leader in this area and bringing the expertise from academics and industry gives us unique opportunities.,” said Bhaskar Ramamurthi, Director at IITM

The work expected to be carried out under the JDA includes images for technology enabled software solutions (TES),machine learning methods, advanced image analysis and use of representational neural networks.

Highlighting the importance of innovations in materials engineering on improving the potential of AI, Dr Om Nalamasu, senior vice president and chief technology officer, Applied Materials, said, “Materials engineering innovations are key to achieving the new compute models, chip architectures and materials systems needed to realise the potential of Artificial Intelligence. Applied Materials’ collaboration with IIT Madras is focused on the breakthroughs that can accelerate this new era.”

This agreement joins the list of strategic partnerships forged by IITM with industries and the government in 2018. In February, it was reported that IITM, along with National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning (NPTEL), was working with the glass industry to develop MOOCHs aspiring civil engineers and architects to raise awareness on effective use of glass in construction. In the same month, IITM entered into a memorandum of agreement (MoA) with the Union Shipping Ministry to establish the National Technology Centre for Ports, Waterways and Coasts (NTCPWC), which under the Central Government’s Sagarmala project, aims at modernising Indian Ports.