On October 20, 2022, the Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) and the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Jodhpur signed a contract to establish a DRDO-industry-academia centre of excellence (DIA-CoE).
The CoE aspires to conduct collaborative research projects in several fields in partnership between universities, businesses, and DRDO research centres. The teachers and students of IIT Jodhpur will conduct the research for the centre using the laboratories provided by DRDO as well as the business, educational, and research institutions. The research priorities of the IIT Jodhpur centre of excellence will be artificial intelligence (AI) for information and wargaming technologies, futuristic Omni-mobility systems, and desert welfare technologies. The centre will also take on the scientific and technical programmes that the DRDO has highlighted.
IIT Jodhpur is currently capable of developing innovations in a number of fields, including those related to desert operations, artificial intelligence (AI), augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), mobility, and robotics. As a result, IIT Jodhpur was a good choice for DRDO to establish the CoE. The governing council of the centre, which is now co-chaired by the director of IIT Jodhpur and the DRDO chairman, will choose the director of the centre of excellence. In addition, IIT Jodhpur’s director, dean (resource and development), and the registrar will select senior academicians for the council, and members of the Institute will make up the research advisory board.
The MoU offers a very significant opportunity to forge 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 the development of futuristic technologies for the world, entirely driven by the practical needs of the modern battlefield, according to IIT Jodhpur director Santanu Chaudhary. IIT Jodhpur and Algo8 AI recently cooperated to create data pipeline building and machine learning models for oil and petroleum refineries heat exchangers to increase the efficiency of the petroleum and related industries.
