IIT Jodhpur has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) for setting up a DRDO Industry Academia Centre of Excellence at IIT Jodhpur (DIA – COE, IIT Jodhpur) on 20 October 2022. The MoU was exchanged between Prof. Santanu Chaudhary, Director, IIT Jodhpur, and Secretary, DRDO, at Gandhinagar in the auspicious presence of Rajnath Singh, Defence Minister, Government of India.
Speaking about IIT Jodhpur’s collaboration with DRDO, Prof. Santanu Chaudhary, Director, IIT Jodhpur, 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.”
Being established with funding by DRDO, the Centre of Excellence at IIT Jodhpur will carry out directed research in verticals as identified jointly by both the bodies. The research will be carried out by the faculty members and students of IIT Jodhpur in collaboration with different laboratories of DRDO as well as Industry and other academic/ research institutes.
The Centre of Excellence will primarily pursue directed research in the identified verticals including:
- Desert Welfare Technologies
- Futuristic Omni Mobility Systems
- Artificial Intelligence for Information and Wargaming Technologies
Along with this, the Centre will also undertake science and technology initiatives as identified by DRDO.
IIT Jodhpur has expertise in multiple domains which are directly connected with different strategic and warfare areas such as Technologies for desert operations, Artificial Intelligence, Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality, Mobility and Robotics to develop indigenous and unique technologies that can be useful for wargaming, information warfare, and futuristic autonomous omni mobility systems capable of operating under multiple terrains like land, air and water. This has made IIT Jodhpur a suitable choice for DRDO to set up the CoE.
DIA – COE, IIT Jodhpur will be headed by a Director. The appointment of the Director will be done by the Governing Council of the Centre which is Chaired by the Chairman DRDO and co-chaired by the Director, IIT Jodhpur. Besides, Senior Academicians nominated by the Director, IIT Jodhpur, Dean (R&D) and Registrar will be members of the Governing Council from IIT Jodhpur. Along with this, the Research Advisory Board will also have members from IIT Jodhpur.
