IIITH and IDRBT sign MoU for BFSI research
IDRBT has signed a MoU with IIITH to collaborate in academics, research, training, student exchange and skill development in BFSI sector. The MoU was signed under the leadership of Prof. Sandeep Shukla, director, IIITH, and Dr Deepak Kumar, director, IDRBT, in the presence of Prof. H. Krishnamurthy, chief research scientist (Retd.), IISc Bengaluru, and member of the governing councils of both institutions. The institutions agreed to explore areas of collaboration for public welfare by leveraging their combined reach and capacity. Joint PhD programs will be offered to researchers in areas such as digital payments, cyber security, vulnerability management, adoption of AI for customer ease, cryptography, blockchain, and fungible and non-fungible tokens. Other areas of collaboration include standardisation and validation of technology in BFSI, development of domain-specific SLMs, cyber security initiatives, and improving user experience.
Microsoft launches flagship DCA at IIITH
Aiming to equip aspiring software professionals with industry-ready skills, Microsoft on Wednesday launched its global flagship Data Centre Academy (DCA) at International Institute of Information Technology Hyderabad (IIIT). The initiative is being implemented in collaboration with Young India Skills University (YISU), with United Way of Hyderabad as the non-profit partner and Selasian Consultancy Services as the training partner, according to a release. The DCA is a global skilling programme designed to bridge the talent gap in the fast-growing data centre sector, as Hyderabad emerges as a major hub for multinational technology firms. It is the first such programme in the country aimed at preparing entry- and mid-level professionals for data centre operations and management. The release added that the academy will offer hands-on, industry-aligned training focused on practical, job-ready skills, with a curriculum benchmarked to global standards.
CIE-IIITH hosts Winter 2025 Demo Day
Winter 2025 Demo Day at CIE@IIIT Hyderabad featured 13 startups building research-driven, cutting-edge solutions in AI, intelligent sensing, MedTech devices, robotics, energy storage, language technologies, and space systems. They are drawn from CIE’s three accelerators — Avishkar (DeepTech), the MedTech Incubator, and the AIC-Social Accelerator. These research-led startups are translating applied work from IIIT Hyderabad labs such as CVIT, RRC, CVEST, and SPCRC into deployable technologies. Their work spans areas such as intelligent sensing, AI-driven diagnostics, autonomous systems, sustainable materials, and next-generation infrastructure, translating academic research into solutions with measurable societal, environmental, and economic impact. Startups presented validated technologies, market traction, and investment readiness to a curated pool of investors, including SucSEED Venture Partners, Abyro Capital, O2 VC Fund, Hyderabad Angels, Pavestone VC and Gruhas etc.
IIITH launches 3-month certificate program on Engineering Agentic AI System
IIITH, through its DFL, has announced the launch of a new 12-week online certificate program titled “Engineering Agentic AI Systems: Agentic AI from Concepts to Practice.” The program will be delivered by Prof. Karthik V. Designed to be hands-on and practice-oriented, the course enables learners to design, build, test, and deploy agentic AI systems grounded in real-world use cases. Speaking on the launch, Prof. S K Shukla said: “This program reinforces our commitment to advancing high-quality AI education at scale—for working professionals as well as for students who are unable to partake in the world-class AI research at the IIITH. Agentic AI represents a significant leap in how transformer-based AI models are orchestrated into parallel pipelines of complex tasks to automate end-to-end business processes. By empowering learners beyond our campus to build agentic workflow solutions, we aim to help create a competent workforce for a rapidly evolving IT industry.”
IIITH Researchers use Math to decode living systems
Scientists use mathematical models to explain why mosquito populations surge after rain, how species disappear without warning or why ecosystems recover when a missing element is restored. At International Institute of Information Technology Hyderabad (IIITH), researchers are using reaction networks and dynamical systems to study these hidden patterns in living systems. Prof. Abhishek Deshpande from the Center for Computational Natural Sciences and Bioinformatics said the reaction networks helped scientists understand chains of cause and effect. He pointed to the Yellowstone example in the United States, where wolves were reintroduced about 30 years ago after their numbers had collapsed. Elk populations had risen sharply in their absence, damaging young trees and riverbanks. Prof. Deshpande explained, “When wolves returned, the balance shifted again. It showed how one species can influence everything around it. Reaction networks help us explain why such changes unfold the way they do.”
The Invisible Signature of AI-Washed IP
AI “washing” alters code, designs, or media just enough to obscure ownership, creating an attribution gap for IP law. New forensic methods; lineage tracing, deep similarity analysis, and training-data provenance are emerging to prove algorithmic theft. When a piece of copyrighted code, a proprietary design, or a unique musical composition is fed into a Generative AI model for washing, the goal is to retain the core value and structure of the original work while subtly altering its metadata and stylistic features, enough to erase the ownership trail. This algorithmic transformation creates a derivative work that is technically new yet functionally identical to the stolen IP. “Until more research on detecting such manipulation and identification is established with scientific rigor, it would always depend on expert testimony and counter expert testimony. But the hope is that it won’t be that distant future that such scientifically rigorous methods will be established for acceptance by judiciary.” said Prof Sandeep K Shukla, Director, IIIT Hyderabad.
Prof. Sandeep K Shukla on evolution of cybersecurity
Cybersecurity isn’t just about protecting data anymore, it’s about defending the digital backbone of modern India. Every connection represents an opportunity for increased risk, be it through UPI payments or the power grid. Prior to it being a popular and widely discussed trend in the world, Prof. Sandeep K Shukla, has been ahead of the curve on all things relating to this concept. He speaks about the next steps in securing India’s critical infrastructure, and utilising AI for protection against cyber threats. In 2002–03, it was viewed as a system administrator’s problem. Attacks like Code Red were routine, and research focused on cryptography, which was ineffective once malware exploited software flaws. A global vulnerability market soon emerged, where zero-day, zero-click bugs in major platforms became million-dollar assets traded legally and on the dark web, sustaining a government, criminal exploit ecosystem. Stuxnet in 2010 transformed the field. Using unknown vulnerabilities, it damaged Iran’s Natanz facility and proved cyberattacks could disrupt physical systems worldwide.
IIITH hosts launch of NITI Ayog’s quantum roadmap and Telangana’s quantum strategy
International Institute of Information Technology (IIIT) Hyderabad hosted the launch of ‘Transforming India into a leading Quantum-powered Economy in the presence of NITI Aayog Chief Executive Officer B V Subrahmanyam, Telangana IT and Industries Minister D Sridhar Babu, Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, NITI Aayog Member V K Saraswat, and NITI Frontier Tech Hub Chief Architect Debjani Ghosh. Addressing a gathering after launching the roadmap, NITI Aayog Chief Executive Officer B V Subrahmanyam called for concerted efforts to make India a top-three quantum economy by 2025. Hyderabad has all the ingredients to become the country’s Quantum City. Telangana’s quantum policy is in sync with the national strategy. It can deliver results much faster.” It sets a target to incubate at least 10 globally competitive quantum start-ups, each surpassing $100 million in revenue; achieve Quantum Atmanirbharata and control critical points in global supply chains; and capture over 50 per cent of the value in the global quantum software and services market by 2035.
Team Nexus wins award at International oneM2M Hackathon for fifth consecutive year
IIITH’s Smart City Living Lab team won ‘Best Promotion of oneM2M’ Award (3rd Prize) along with a cash award of 500,000 KRW at the 2025 International oneM2M Hackathon (8th Mobius Developer Challenge), marking the 5th consecutive win for the IIITH at this global event. This year’s recognition celebrates the team’s innovative project, “oneM2M-enabled AI for Resilient Building Systems.” The idea behind it is simple but powerful: How can buildings think smarter, respond faster, and stay resilient—no matter the situation? Their solution blends oneM2M’s interoperable IoT framework with AI-driven intelligence to create buildings that automatically detect issues, adjust conditions, save energy, and keep occupants safe. It is a bold step toward the future of intelligent, sustainable spaces. Team Nexus (Likhith Kanigolla, Kartik Gharde, Peri Reddy Vaka, and Nishitha Varma) brought this idea to life. They were mentored by Ms. Anuradha Vattem and Dr. Karthik Vaidhyanathan.
IIITH Prof. Shows How Simple Quantum Circuits Spoof Thermalization
Research revealing how “thermal” behaviour can emerge from low-complexity dynamics and not necessarily extremely chaotic ones, has been published in the prestigious journal Physical Review Letters. In everyday life, objects equilibrate with the environment. “A steaming cup of tea left on your desk eventually reaches room temperature, losing almost all memory of how it was heated,” says Prof. Shantanav Chakraborty, Center for Quantum Science and Technology, IIITH. He is referring to the process known as thermalization in Physics, where many-particle systems evolve towards equilibrium. “Here, only a few coarse properties, like temperature or energy, matter, and the fine details of the past are effectively forgotten”. According to the professor, quantum physics can mimic thermalization but in an intriguing manner. “A large quantum system can be in a perfectly well-defined pure state, evolving deterministically under Schrödinger’s equation, and yet any small part of it can still look completely random and ‘thermal’”, he says.