IIIT-H and Bharat Dynamics announce a Centre of Excellence for AI in Missile Tech

• COE (Centre of Excellence) will fund technology development based on research works

• Projects to explore use of AI in BDL products and improving Production processes ;  COE will function as the AI Laboratory for BDL 

Hyderabad, India, June 5, 2019 : IIIT-Hyderabad (IIIT-H) and Bharat Dynamics Ltd (BDL) announced today the establishment of a Center of Excellence (COE) for AI in Missile Tech. The COE was formally launched by the Director of IIIT Hyderabad, Prof PJ Narayanan and CMD of BDL, Commodore Siddharth Mishra (Retd).

The COE will take up projects relating to AI activities in missiles, manufacturing, inspection and allied areas.  It will function as an AI Laboratory for BDL, building an understanding of BDL’s products and business, within IIIT-H research groups. The COE will undertake upto five projects in a year as per mutually agreed scope,  including both software and hardware.

Director of IIIT H, Prof PJ Narayanan and CMD of BDL, Commodore Siddharth Mishra (Retd) seen at the launch of COE

According to Prof. P. J. Narayanan, Director of IIIT-Hyderabad, “As a research university, we are always happy to see this kind of interest in our deep-tech research. The top-ranked AI research group at our Kohli Centre for Intelligent Systems is very well positioned to enable the use of AI in BDL products. It’s also a matter of pride for us to be a part of products of national importance.”

Commenting on the occasion, Commodore Siddharth Mishra (Retd) CMD, BDL said, “BDL being a central DPSU, meeting the ever-changing requirements of Indian armed forces, would like to be always at the forefront of emerging technologies. As part of this effort, BDL would like to integrate AI in its products and processes. BDL with its partnership with IIIT-H, one of the top ranked AI research groups, will be able to integrate AI strategy in our products to accelerate the journey of producing efficient and user-friendly defense equipment.”