Transformative initiatives by IIITH alumni
Whether it’s raising funds to improve college infrastructure, starting a ‘pay forward model’ to help students from poor families pursue courses or mentoring students to secure jobs and internships, alumni of IIITH, based in different parts of the world have been doing their bit.
The institute, which recently felicitated a few alumni for their exceptional service to IIITH, has several active former students in its network.
“Since our fee is high, we as alumni felt that anyone who deserves to be in the institute shouldn’t be deprived of the opportunity. That’s how we set up the alumni fund, an initiative dear to me,” said Jayachandra Sunkara.
Wikimedia Technology Summit 2024
The Wikimedia Technology Summit 2024 successfully took place from October 3 to 5, 2024, drawing an enthusiastic gathering of technologists, developers, and volunteer contributors of Wikimedia projects from all over the country. Hosted by the International Institute of Information Technology Hyderabad with support from Indic MediaWiki Developers User Group and the Wikimedia Foundation, the summit had a one-day Hackathon on the IIIT Hyderabad campus and the summit at Hotel Hyatt Gachibowli. The summit gathered 130 attendees from across India to discuss the latest trends and innovations in open-source technology and Wikimedia projects.
Winners of Wi-SUN Smart City Challenge
From smart dustbins to soil quality testing systems, innovators from across the country showcased their smart city innovations based on IoT at the ‘Wi-SUN Challenge’ conducted by US-based Silicon Labs at IIITH on Thursday. As many as 266 contestants demonstrated proof of concept using prototypes based on Wi-SUN technology and artificial intelligence. Of the eight shortlisted innovators, DBR Innovative Tech bagged the first prize and a cash prize of Rs 5 lakh for their smart soil sensor, followed by Horus (Rs 2 lakh) and Yantram (Rs 1 lakh). The winners will receive support from Silicon Labs’ wireless development centre in Hyderabad for product development.
Smart City Living Lab unveils first digital twin for water network at IIITH in collaboration with ZF
The Smart City Living Lab announces the launch of its innovative Digital Twin for water utility network. This project was initiated in collaboration with ZF India Pvt.Ltd., a CSR initiative five months ago, represents a significant advancement in smart city infrastructure management.
Ms. Anuradha Vattem, Chief Technology Architect mentioned that the idea of building a Digital Twin has been triggered when an MOU for establishing Centre of Excellence for Water (Water COE) with HMWSSB last February and one of the problems discussed was the Digital Twin for Water and Sewerage Treatment Plant.
IIITH team uses AI to generate Wikipedia Sandbox with over a million articles in Telugu
From 70,000 Telugu articles on Wikipedia about three years ago, researchers at the International Institute of Information Technology, Hyderabad (IIITH), have now managed to create a Wikipedia Sandbox with over a million articles in Telugu, ranging from movies to cricket to stars and planets. As part of the Project IndicWiki, the team at IIIT-H also added 2 lakh new Hindi articles to the existing count of 1.5 lakh. The team used LLM and Gen AI for this project, which has been underway since 2021. It is now hoping that Volunteers will come forward to upload it to Wikipedia.
IIITH launches online course on AI for medical professionals
IIITH has launched an online course on ‘AI for Medical Professionals’, in collaboration with National Academy of Medical Sciences (NAMS), an autonomous organization under the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Government of India, and IHub-Data. The 12-week online orientation course on AI for Medical Professionals will equip medical professionals with the requisite skills needed to understand, evaluate, and apply AI technologies in clinical settings, improving patient care and operational efficiency. It covers both theory and tutorials covering the basics of AI, machine learning, deep learning etc.
IIITH is part of National Blockchain Framework
The National Blockchain Framework (NBF) is designed to promote research, application development, and secure digital service delivery. The technology stack, hosted across NIC data centers in Bhubaneswar, Pune, and Hyderabad, features distributed infrastructure, core framework functionality, smart contracts, API gateway, and enhanced security and privacy measures.
The NBF initiative is a collaborative effort involving C-DAC, NIC, IDRBT Hyderabad, IIT Hyderabad, IIIT Hyderabad, and SETS Chennai, aimed at addressing challenges related to blockchain research, security, and interoperability. The initiative has already generated several patents and research publications.
IIITH celebrates 27th Foundation Day
IIITH celebrated its 27th Foundation Day today. Sri Jayesh Ranjan, Special Chief Secretary for Information Technology, Telangana was the chief guest.
Sri Jayesh Ranjan also viewed a showcase of IIITH’s seminal works with wide impact that have benefited society. These ranged from using AI for oral cancer detection, iRASTE road safety project, computational drug discovery, geospatial solutions for nature conversation – from lakes to tigers, earthquake and drone-based building safety assessments, brain mapping, shape-shifting drones, ornithopter, language technologies, lipSync and language translations, smart city research and implementations.
IIITH study finds where gazes are fixed
The research aimed to investigate whether women are subjected to objectifying gazes even when their clothing is not considered provocative. “It’s her fault.” – a phrase that has been used to justify countless acts of sexual harassment and assault, placing blame on the victim rather than the perpetrator. The key allegation against the victims is that they were not dressed appropriately, which might have led to the harassment. This victim-blaming attitude often hinges on the notion that women’s clothing choices invite unwanted attention. However, a groundbreaking study by researchers at the Cognitive Science Lab at IIITH challenges this pervasive belief.
A Masters degree at 77 to Sri S L N Shastry from IIITH
At 77, most people are enjoying a well-deserved retirement. But S L N Shastry doesn’t belong to this group. This civil engineer recently defied expectations by earning his Master’s degree in earthquake engineering from the International Institute of Information Technology (Hyderabad)‘s Earthquake Engineering Research Centre (EERC). Shastry’s decision to pursue a Master’s degree, at the age of 77, was inspired by two EERC faculty members. With their encouragement, he completed his thesis on the seismic vulnerability of buildings in Vijayawada. His research involved extensive data collection and analysis, demonstrating his commitment to academic rigor.