IIT-Madras Receives Rs 110 Crore for Setting up Wadhwani School of Data Science and AI

IIT Madras gets a Rs 110 crore endowment from Sunil Wadhwani, an alumnus, to establish the Wadhwani School of Data Science and Artificial Intelligence. This is one of the largest gifts given by an alumnus to create a School at an educational institution in India, the institute said.

Chennai: The Indian Institute of Technology, Madras (IIT-M) on Tuesday said it received an endowment of Rs 110 crore to establish the Wadhwani School of Data Science and Artificial Intelligence.

This hefty sum received from Sunil Wadhwani, an alumnus, for the initiative, was one of the largest gifts given by an alumnus to create a School at an educational institution in India, the institute said in a statement. The MoU was signed on Tuesday between Sunil Wadhwani, co-founder of IGATE and Mastech Digital, and Prof V Kamakoti, Director of IIT Madras, in the presence of faculty, students, alumni, and researchers, a release here said.

"With a vision to be among the top AI-focused schools worldwide, Wadhwani School of Data Science and AI also aims to advise the Government and policymakers on Data Science and AI-related policy areas," it said. Over the years, Wadhwani, through his family foundation, Wadhwani Impact Trust, has been supporting social welfare, affordable healthcare, and scientific research through the Wadhwani Institute of Sustainable Healthcare (WISH Foundation) and Wadhwani Institute of Artificial Intelligence (WIAI), respectively.

Highlighting the need for such a school, Kamakoti said, with the advent of Industry 4.0, wherein AI and Data Science are the main movers, the need for a school for Data Science and AI is critical." According to Sunil Wadhwani, with the advancements in science and technology, India held immense potential and could be a world leader in AI and allied sciences.

The Wadhwani School of Data Science and AI will offer B Tech programme in AI and Data Analytics, M Tech programme in Data Science and AI, MS & PhD programmes in Data Science and AI, Joint MSc in Data Science and AI with the University of Birmingham, UK, International Interdisciplinary Masters Programme in Data Science, Interdisciplinary Dual Degree in Data Science and Web-enabled MTech in Industrial AI.

Admissions will commence in July 2024. The school will also run a joint MSc in Data Science and AI with the University of Birmingham, U.K., admitting 30 students and an International Interdisciplinary Masters Programme, the release said. Healthcare, agriculture, smart cities and transportation, financial analytics, manufacturing, energy and environment, defence, education, and systems Biology will be the applied research areas of this school.