VJTI is one of the oldest technology colleges not just in Mumbai but also the country, established way back in 1887. And it has just received a serious tech upgrade!
Now an autonomous university, VJTI has installed a state-of-the-art AI supercomputer with more than 1 Petaflop capacity within their campus to not only provide students with relevant AI skills but also start a tech incubator to boost the startup ecosystem in Mumbai.
VJTI
The Veermata Jijabai Technological Institute (VJTI), Mumbai and NVIDIA have announced the availability of an AI supercomputer at the Technology Business Incubator (TBI), housed at VJTI campus.?
The aim of the facility is to allow both researchers as well as startups to build solutions leveraging the computational capability afforded by the NVIDIA AI supercomputer clocked at over 1 Petaflop computational power and over 100 terabyte in storage capacity.
According to Dr Faruk Kazi, project coordinator of VJTI-TBI, the aim is simple: to create enabling infrastructure and emerge as research hub for AI and deep learning. He also mentioned how he felt that even though VJTI was older than IITs and NITs of the country, it was falling behind because of lack of funding to foray into "new disruptive areas like AI, machine learning, deep learning, blockchain, cyber security, and more."
This will come as news to you, but Mumbai ranks third (behind Bangalore and Hyderabad) in the country with respect to the size of its startup ecosystem.?This is one of the reasons why VJTI was able to establish the Technology Business Incubator under a grant of Rs 4 crore from the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India under NIDHI initiative.
VJTI
"The aim of the incubator is foster a culture of innovation for the startup ecosystem in the areas of clean-tech, energy, cloud computing,?IoT and cyber security," said Dr Kazi. Doing so wouldn't be easy as businesses don't establish themselves in Mumbai because of high real estate cost, claimed Dr Kazi, but due to VJTI's legacy and the ready availability of AI supercomputing infrastructure, this should help unlock the potential of young innovators in India's financial capital.
During our conversation, Dr Kazi mentioned the importance of skilling students and re-skilling professionals with AI courses to make them ready for the jobs of the future. There is already enough enthusiasm within the student community with respect to the application of AI in innovative ways, and Dr Kazi pointed to a six-month old AI Deepfakes?video his students put together by replacing Amir Khan's face with Alibaba founder Jack Ma's face in a scene from the movie Three Idiots.
As far as future agenda for the AI supercomputer and tech business incubator at VJTI, Dr Kazi mentions they already have MOUs signed with companies like L&T Infotech, Emerson, and others for specific AI projects. The setup is also being used to train, educate and test ideas for different government ministries.
VJTI-TBI provides startups with access to cutting-edge thrust-area laboratory facilities for product development and rapid prototyping. As the technology solution provider, VJTI's tech incubator's consistent with NVIDIA's vision of "working with the leading research institutions in the country to enhance their computational capability," according to Vishal Dhupar, Managing Director, NVIDIA South Asia.
The Technology Business Incubator at VJTI is keen on extending their AI supercomputer to potential startups and other government and civilian research organizations. To access the resources at the facility, interested startups can approach to VJTI-TBI directly.