When commercial number plate systems failed to handle India’s hand-painted truck plates, International Institute of Information Technology Hyderabad’s iHub-Data adapted lab research into Vahan Eye – a low-cost, field-deployed solution now monitoring sand transport in Telangana. ‘Truck art’ or the hand-painted ‘Horn Ok Please’, ‘Use Dipper at Night’ and the ‘Buri nazar waale tera mooh kala’ are an integral part of Indian highways. These artistic expressions which lighten up many a road journey also find an extension in hand painted registration plates. However, such unstandardised lettering can prove to be a challenge for automatic number plate recognition (ANPR) systems. Most commercial ANPR systems are designed for standardized license plates. ANPR systems play a crucial role in modern governance, helping authorities monitor traffic, enforce regulations, prevent illegal transport, and improve public safety. From toll booths to traffic violations, ANPR enables real-time vehicle tracking without manual checks.

Cancer is no longer seen as a single genetic error but as a complex, multi-layered disease shaped by DNA mutations, epigenetic changes and even patterns in medical images. New research at CCNSB at IIIT Hyderabad is bringing these layers together to move closer to early detection and truly personalised cancer care. A century ago, scientists believed cancer began with a single mistake in a cell. In 1914, the somatic mutation theory proposed that abnormalities in a cell’s DNA could trigger uncontrolled growth. Over time, this idea expanded. Researchers discovered oncogenes that drive cancer and tumour suppressor genes that normally prevent it. Later theories showed that cancer does not arise from rogue cells alone – the surrounding tissue environment, viruses, carcinogens, and cellular stress also play critical roles. “People have been talking about the origin of tumours since the early 1900s, but over time we realised that cancer cannot be explained by mutations alone. Today, cancer is understood as a multifactorial disease, shaped by genetics, gene regulation, environment and time,” observes Prof. Nita Parekh, Professor of Bioinformatics, IIIT-H.

At a time when India is strengthening its semiconductor ambitions, IIIT-H’s researchers are developing indigenous electronics – from custom chip design and millimetre-wave circuits to privacy-preserving sensing and intelligent healthcare systems – that move seamlessly from the lab to real-world deployment. In an age where governance, healthcare and mobility increasingly rely on data, how that data is sensed, processed and protected matters deeply. Visual dashboards, spatial maps and intelligent systems have become essential tools for decision-making, but behind every such system lies something less visible and far more fundamental: electronics. At IIIT-H, the Integrated Circuits – Inspired by Wireless and Biomedical Systems, IC-WiBES research group led by Prof. Abhishek Srivastava, is rethinking how electronic systems are designed; not as isolated chips, but as end-to-end technologies that move seamlessly from silicon to real-world deployment. The group follows a simple but powerful philosophy: vertical integration from chip design to system-level applications.