With artificial intelligence becoming all-pervasive, the International Institute of Information Technology (IIIT Hyderabad) is setting up a new research centre, the Centre for Educational Technology and Learning Sciences (CETLS), to explore how people, including students and older people, learn in the age of AI, and how to help them improve their cognitive skills. CETLS will focus on students up to Class 12, higher education, executive training, and learning for the third age. Instead of arguing for a blanket ban on AI in the classroom, the centre plans to focus on helping children improve their cognitive skills. The centre will work with schools to gain insights into the actual learning process, which it can then use to refine and improve educational methods. Globally known AI thought leader and the International Institute of Information Technology Hyderabad (IIIT-H) founder Raj Reddy will address the inaugural event on September 5 at the institute’s Gachibowli campus.

A new faculty chair backed by technology ecosystem veteran J.A. Chowdary will strengthen research and innovation in emerging technologies at IIIT Hyderabad as the institute enters its 30th year. The JA Chowdary Faculty Chair, established with support from Chowdary, founder of ISF and Junicorn 100K, will have a dedicated corpus. The initiative was announced at the institute’s 29th Foundation Day celebrations on Wednesday, held around the theme “Navigating the Future of AI & Technology.” Cyient Founder Chairman and Board Member and former Nasscom chairman B.V.R. Mohan Reddy was the chief guest and keynote speaker. He stressed the need for stronger academia-industry links to develop talent, drive innovation and translate research into real-world impact. The institute also presented its 2026 Alumni Achiever Awards to CEO of Character.ai Karandeep Anand; founder and CTO of LoadShare Networks Pramod Nair; and principal scientist at ServiceNow and assistant professor at McGill University Siva Reddy Goli.

India’s energy transition is becoming increasingly technology-driven, requiring smarter grids, advanced computing, data-led decision-making and skilled professionals. As the country expands renewable energy. green hydrogen and grid automation, stronger links between technology, research and education will be essential. In this conversation, Prof. Sandeep Kumar Shukla, Professor & Director, IIIT Hyderabad, speaks with Nandini Jha of Elets News Network about leveraging Al, computing and research to address India’s energy challenges, from smarter grids and predictive maintenance to green hydrogen and digital SCADA. IIIT Hyderabad’s strengths in machine learning time-series forecasting, signal processing and lot map directly onto this load and renewable-generation forecasting. Our Smart City Living Lab already treats the campus as an instrumented testbed for energy, water and air quality data, which gives students real sensor streams rather than synthetic datasets.