200+ Researchers converge at IIIT Hyderabad for National Software Engineering Summit
The International Institute of Information Technology Hyderabad (IIIT-H) is hosting the Software Engineering Research in India (SERI) 2026 from July 16–18, 2026, bringing together faculty members, researchers, students, and industry practitioners from across the country to discuss the latest advances in software engineering research and practice. The program begins today at IIIT Hydera bad campus in Gachibowli. SERI 2026 is an annual update meet focuses on software development, programming languages, and testing agentic AI systems. SERI is an annual community-driven forum that provides a platform for researchers to present ongoing work, exchange ideas on emerging directions in software engineering, and strengthen collaboration between academia and industry. This year’s edition has received over 200 registrations and features a packed three-day programme.
Between Appointments: A Desi Digital Companion Who’s Got The Patient’s Back
Christian Medical College (CMC), Vellore and IIIT Hyderabad’s Language Technologies Research Centre (LTRC) have developed BandhuCare, a multi-lingual AI-powered patient engagement platform designed specifically for cancer care. Unlike consumer AI assistants, BandhuCare, instead of trawling through the internet, answers questions only from information carefully curated and verified by clinicians. While CMC provided domain expertise and anonymised medical data, IIIT-H developed machine translation technologies that could be refined using continuous feedback from clinicians. The project, supported by the National Cancer Grid and Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology of India – MeitY’s India AI initiative, has reached Technology Readiness Level 5, with ethics approvals in place for clinical pilot studies involving patients.
IIIT Hyderabad Celebrates 25th Convocation; 526 Students Graduate
The International Institute of Information Technology Hyderabad (IIIT Hyderabad) celebrated its 25th convocation on Saturday, and graduated 526 students. IIIT-H is an autonomous research university that focuses on the core areas of Information Technology, such as Computer Science, Electronics and Communications, and their applications in other domains through inter-disciplinary research that has a greater social impact, according to official information. In a press release, the institute stated that “from its first convocation in 2002, when 49 students graduated from a campus with 496 students and 16 faculty members, IIIT Hyderabad has grown into one of India’s leading research universities”. It further said that today, the institute has 2,524 students, 114 faculty members, and an alumni network of over 8,200 graduates, reflecting nearly three decades of sustained growth in research, innovation and academic excellence.
IIIT-H’s Participation At Prestigious CVPR Conference Puts CVIT In Clear Focus
Research on making 3D models lighter, improving how artificial intelligence understands videos, and preventing unauthorised 3D reconstruction from images featured among the papers presented by researchers from the International Institute of Information Technology, Hyderabad (IIIT-H) at the Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition (CVPR) 2026 conference and its workshops. Among the award-winning papers, Kunal Bhosikar’s “Fast and Robust Mesh Simplification for Generated and Real World 3-D Assets” was named Best Paper Runner-Up at a workshop on 3D geometry generation. The paper addresses a key challenge in 3D AI, where highly detailed models are often too heavy to store, render and process efficiently. The work proposes a mesh simplification technique that removes unnecessary triangles while preserving the model’s shape, curvature and texture, making 3D assets easier to use in areas such as medical imaging and virtual reality.
IIIT Hyderabad and HYSEA Celebrate Two Years of TechForward Research Seminar Series
The International Institute of Information Technology Hyderabad (IIIT Hyderabad), in partnership with HYSEA celebrated the second anniversary of the TechForward Research Seminar Series on Monday night with a special edition titled “TechForward 2026: The Future, Powered by AI,” bringing together leaders from academia, industry, research, and the technology ecosystem to discuss the transformative role of artificial intelligence and the future of industry-academia collaboration. The anniversary edition featured a distinguished lineup of leaders from academia and industry, including Aditya Rao (ServiceNow), Dr. Deva Kumar U (IIIT Hyderabad), Maneesh Sehgal (DBS Tech), Shashi Reddy (Qualcomm), Sumeet Mathur (ServiceNow), Prof. B. S. Murty (IIT Hyderabad), Prof. Bhagwan Chowdhry (Indian School of Business), Prof. P. J. Narayanan (IIIT Hyderabad), Prof. Sandeep Kumar Shukla (IIIT Hyderabad), and Rajesh Dhuddu (PwC).
IIIT-H marks the release of Roots & Wings, the authorized biography of Governing Council Chairman Dr. Ashok Jhunjhunwala
The International Institute of Information Technology Hyderabad (IIIT Hyderabad) marks the release of Roots & Wings: Building India’s Deep Tech Ecosystem, the authorized biography of Padma Shri Dr. Ashok Jhunjhunwala, Chairman of the institute’s Governing Council and one of India’s most distinguished technologists, innovators and institution builders. Authored by entrepreneur and ecosystem builder Saloni Malhotra, Roots & Wings traces Dr. Jhunjhunwala’s remarkable journey over four decades — from returning to India in 1981 with the conviction that world-class technology could be built in the country, to becoming a pioneering force behind India’s deep-tech ecosystem. The book offers an intimate account of the ideas, leadership, and collaborations that have shaped his enduring contributions to technology, entrepreneurship, and nation-building.
IIITH’s TechForward roundtable defines Agentic AI as an ecosystem rather than just a chatbot or model
In a world increasingly shaped by artificial intelligence, the term ‘Agentic AI’ has emerged as the next big frontier—one that promises to transform how machines collaborate with humans. At the International Institute of Information Technology, Hyderabad (IIITH), the TechForward series marked its second anniversary with a roundtable dedicated to demystifying this concept and exploring its real-world implications. According to Prof. Karthik Vaidhyanathan, whose research group has published over 20 papers on Agentic and Generative AI, the term is widely misunderstood. “It is neither a chatbot nor a model. Agentic AI is more of an ecosystem,” he explained. Unlike chatbots that merely respond to prompts, AI agents can reason, plan, use tools, remember context, and execute tasks autonomously. The challenge now lies not in building better models but in designing entire systems around them—integrating memory, governance, safety, and human oversight.
IIIT Hyderabad Study Indicates How Public Procurement Is Shaping AI Governance In India
An exploratory study undertaken by IIIT-H’s Human Sciences Research Center (HSRC) has won the Best Paper Award at the 6th India Public Policy Network Conference for analysing how public procurement processes are quietly influencing the development and governance of AI systems in India. A research team from IIIT-H’s Human Sciences Research Centre (HSRC) comprising Prof. Aakansha Natani, Assistant Professor at HSRC, Siddhi Wadekar, PhD scholar, and Sujal Deoda, a dual-degree student pursuing BTech in Computer Science and MS in Computing and Human Sciences (CHD), explored precisely this question in their award-winning paper, ‘Emerging Institutional Pathways for AI Governance in India: Evidence from Public Procurement and Outsourcing.’ The paper received the Best Paper Award (Practice Track) at the India Public Policy Network (IPPN) Conference 2026 hosted by the National Law School of India University (NLSIU) on 8-11 June 2026.
Souvik Ghosh joins Forbes 30 under 30
This IIIT Hyderabad Masters student has recently been named to Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia 2026 for Cognitii, his AI-powered startup operating at the intersection of education, healthcare, and assistive technology, which has built India’s first AI and human infrastructure layer for special education. For Souvik Ghosh, a final-year MS by Research student at IIIT-H, an early morning message would forever be etched in his memory. He woke up in his Kolkata home a few weeks ago, to find his phone flooded with missed calls from co-founders, Jhillika Trisal and Falguni Shrivastava. Their startup, Cognitii, had featured in the Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia list in the Social Impact category. The challenge wasn’t in processing the news, but explaining to his parents why it mattered. “Coming from a middle-class family, the first thing I had to do was help them understand why Forbes was such good news,” he recalls with a smile. The AI innovation combines technology and expertise of diverse stakeholders to help schools and governments identify, support, and track at-risk special children.
Why India Needs an AI Vision and Strategy
As India stands at the crossroads of technology and nation-building, Prof Rajeev Sangal stresses why AI must go beyond innovation for innovation’s sake. It must serve a larger national purpose. We need to build an India-led AI ecosystem rooted in inclusion, language accessibility, education, healthcare, meaningful employment, and the solving of real-world problems. Despite all the hype around AI today, India still lacks a clear AI vision. We need a radical strategy that seeds AI work across thousands of local problems. By identifying relevant AI applications, investing seriously in data collection, and combining this with innovative approaches to machine learning, we can not only solve our own challenges but also create world-class AI manpower. This, in turn, can lead to the emergence of hundreds — perhaps even thousands — of AI startups. A part of this strategy has already been tested through Mission Bhashini, India’s first AI mission, which successfully developed Indian language speech-to-speech translation technology.