DRDO to set up Centre of Excellence at IIT Jodhpur

NEW DELHI: Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) signs an agreement with the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Jodhpur to set up a DRDO-industry-academia centre of excellence (DIA – CoE) on October 20, 2022.

The CoE aims to pursue joint researches in different verticals in collaboration between academia, industry and research labs of DRDO. The research under the centre will be carried out by the faculty members and students of IIT Jodhpur using the laboratories provided by DRDO along with the industry, academic and research institutes.

The centre of excellence at IIT Jodhpur will primarily focus on research in desert welfare technologies, futuristic omni mobility systems and artificial intelligence (AI) for information and wargaming technologies. In addition, science and technology initiatives identified by DRDO will also be taken on at the centre.

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Currently, IIT Jodhpur has capabilities in various spheres that directly connect to strategy and warfare areas including technologies for desert operations, AI, augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), mobility and robotics to develop technologies. This made IIT Jodhpur a suitable choice for DRDO to set up the CoE.

The director of the centre of excellence will be appointed by the governing council of the centre that is currently chaired by the DRDO chairman and co-chaired by IIT Jodhpur's director. Apart from this, senior academicians nominated by the director, IIT Jodhpur, dean (resource and development) and registrar will become the members of the council while the research advisory board will consist members from the Institute.

Speaking about IIT Jodhpur’s collaboration with DRDO, IIT Jodhpur director, Santanu Chaudhary, said: "The MoU provides a very significant opportunity to create an alliance between DRDO, IIT Jodhpur and industries to develop technology for making India self-reliant in defence technologies not only today but also to facilitate development of futuristic technologies for the world, driven completely by the practical needs of the modern battlefield.”

IIT Jodhpur recently partnered Algo8 AI to make petroleum, allied industries more efficient by developing data pipeline build-up and machine learning models for heat exchangers of oil and petroleum refineries.