International Institute of Information Technology, Naya Raipur (IIIT-NR), hosted its second Industry-Academia Meet at its campus on Saturday.
The meet witnessed a congregation of representatives from top industries of the country namely Global Foundaries, Carl Zeiss, KPMG, TCS, PwC, Accenture, Arcesium, Capgemini, and TCS Research & Innovation. Based on the theme ‘Technology Challenge Showcase’, IAM 2019 was specifically tailored to provide the students of IIIT-NR with a launch pad to showcase technological innovations with applications to real-world industrial problems.
Dr. Pradeep K. Sinha, Vice-Chancellor and Director of IIIT Naya Raipur during his welcome address at the inaugural ceremony drew attention to the fact that today more than 60 percent of the engineers produced in India are not employable by industries due to lack of the desired skill sets. Thus, it becomes immensely crucial for upcoming premier institutes like IIIT-NR to be in constant touch with industry.
With this vision in mind, IAM 2019 was conceptualized, and focused on bridging the gap between the industry and academic communities. Towards this end, he also pointed out the diversity and flexibility of IIIT-NR’s academic curriculum, which addresses the changing requirements of the industry.
M. Parial, Vice-Chairman CHiPS, was the esteemed chief guest for this flagship event at IIIT-NR. He is well-known for his contributions towards various e-governance initiatives in Chhattisgarh. He began his talk by highlighting the fact that IIIT-NR was born with a vision to function as an institute, which is ahead of its time in terms of its curriculum and hands-on experience with industry-based projects.
He maintained that the institute was strategically located in terms of close proximity to the airport and the upcoming industrial hubs at Naya Raipur. Finally, he demonstrated his faith and confidence in the students and faculties of IIIT-NR, who he believed would bring many laurels to IIIT-NR and take it to new heights.
Dean (R&D) of IIIT-NR, Prof. Subhendu Kumar Sahoo talked about the various industry related aspects included in the curriculum of the institute. IAM 2019 had 28 student projects handpicked from a large number of submissions and were based on cutting edge engineering technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, Data Science, Internet of Things, Data Analytics, Machine Learning, Signal Processing and VLSI Design.
Dr. Amit Kumar Agarwal, Training and Career Cell Incharge, briefed about the role of IAM 2019 in career planning and career advancement of the students. The inaugural session was followed by three parallel project presentation tracks.
During the projects presentation and demonstration sessions, the industry experts served as jury members and assessed projects and gave valuable feedback to the students to render their projects industry-oriented. The students were able to gather valuable insights on the quality of their finished work, oral presentations as well as the working prototypes in terms of the expectations and relevance to industry.
The theme ‘Technology Showcase Challenge’ was elaborated in various measures and adequately exemplified by the talk ‘Technology Driven Career Opportunities’ given by all the industry representatives. They discussed in detail the various directions today’s engineers should follow to explore the diverse disciplines of technology-oriented careers.
Ajit K. Mishra, Manager at Accenture and Rajeev K. Jain, Director of Capgemini, delivered a lecture on “AI Driven Latest Industrial Case Study and Challenges.” Students found the lecture highly informative and were able to get a glimpse of various practical problems being solved by AI in the industry.
The Q&A feedback was quite informative and was followed by the valedictory session. Other participants from the Industry included Navin Bishnoi, Director, Global Foundaries, Dr. Chayan Sarkar, Scientist, TCS Research & Innovation, Shah Amber, Associate Director, PwC India, Rajesh Kannan, Sr. Program Manager, Carl Zeiss, Rupesh Vashist, Director, KPMG India, Pranav Chauhan, IoT Delivery Owner, TCS and Yogesh Sharma, Director Arcesium.
The event concluded with an aim by IIIT-NR to increase the strength of its industrial associates and to explore new projects with prospective industry partners.
The institute also declared its vision to augment research according to its ‘Skill First and Theory Later with Projects Integrated’ concept. Holistic approaches which leave sufficient room for innovation and development of vital entrepreneurial qualities such as challenge and risk-taking were emphasized. The efforts of bringing industry and academia on the same page definitely came to fruition during the entirety of the meet.