The Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabadhas launched the Brij Disa Centre for Data Science and Artificial Intelligence (CDSA). The endowment for this centre has been contributed by Deepak Gupta, Joint Managing Director, Kotak Mahindra Group. The centre shall undertake research in Data Science and Artificial Intelligence that will support businesses, governance, and policymaking.
It aims to forge synergistic and collaborative relationships between scholars and practitioners in data-intensive organisations, besides undertaking case-based research to understand the current industry practice and develop case studies for classroom teaching, a release from the B-school, said.
Goals of the centre
The Centre will take up challenging consulting projects of considerable practical importance in collaboration with industry players. One of the major highlights of the Centre is an exhaustive annual report on the Data Science and Artificial Intelligence industry in the country, which shall provide a holistic view of the industry, identify challenges and gaps, gauge scope of the industry and offer plausible solutions.
Announcing the launch of the Centre, Professor Errol D’Souza, Director, IIMA, said, “The Centre for Data Science and Artificial Intelligence at IIMA will take on an important role wherein it will create knowledge that will further augment growth in business and societal advancement, at large, through its offerings.”
Besides connecting relevant stakeholders, CDSA will also be responsible for dissemination of the knowledge to a wide audience both within and outside the realm of the institute through seminars, workshops and conferences.
Industry-academia collaboration
Elaborating on the goals of the Centre, Prof Ankur Sinha, Co-Chairperson, CDSA said, “We intend to develop the Centre as the epicentre of knowledge on Data Science and Artificial Intelligence. An important step towards this goal is to undertake in-depth research on the practical application of data science and AI and share the knowledge generated, thereof. We also aim to engage with the industry and establish synergies that can provide sound technical exposure to the students and offer plausible solutions that can be utilised by the industry and academia.”
Professor Anindya S Chakrabarti, Co-Chairperson, CDSA explained the imminent need for research and development in the field of Data Science and Artificial Intelligence. “There is a pressing need to harness the power of Data Science and Artificial Intelligence. This can be a game changer, not just for businesses but also for societal needs. The Centre will provide insights that can be of tremendous value to policy makers,” said Professor Chakrabarti.