New Delhi: Centre for Development of Telematics (C-DOT), the premier Telecom R&D centre of the Department of Telecommunications, Ministry of Communications, Government of India and the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi (IITD) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for cooperation in various areas of Telecom spanning IoT/M2M, AI/ML, Cyber Security and 5G & Beyond technologies in New Delhi on Tuesday, September 27.

This MoU aims to evolve a mutually productive framework for collaboration between R&D and academia to spur the design & development of wholly indigenous Telecom solutions. This will be an effective platform for exchange of knowledge and skill amongst students, faculty and researchers right from the stage of ideation and conceptualization. The platform would act as a catalyst to further the transition of novel ideas into market-ready solutions, , according to a Press Information Bureau release.

C-DOT has been a pioneer in the field of Telecom since its inception in 1984. C-DOT has undertaken several cutting-edge R&D endeavours leading to the creation of a diverse product portfolio covering a wide array of technologies in the domains of Optical, Switching, Wireless, Security, Network Management and innovative Telecom Software applications. C-DOT has been instrumental in the development of home-grown 4G & 5G systems in collaboration with local industry, academia and startups.

IITD, an institute of national importance and Institute of Eminence (IoE) has been keenly working in the field of communication and associated technologies. Bharti School of Telecommunication at IITD has taken up its major initiative of multi-disciplinary advanced research and solution development for emerging national needs, in collaboration with industry and other premier R&D organizations.

Speaking at the MoU signing event, Dr. Rajkumar Upadhyay, Executive Director, C-DOT underscored the tremendous potential of synergy between R&D and academia as one of the key drivers of Prime Minister’s vision of “Atmanirbhar Bharat”. Highlighting the stellar achievements of effective collaboration amongst partners of indigenous ecosystem leading to the cost-effective development of home-grown 4G & 5G, he expressed that complementary strengths of this partnership between C-DOT and IITD would unlock new opportunities for capturing the entire Telecom technology landscape with indigenous innovations. He further asserted that this MoU will lead to the generation of novel use-cases and futuristic Telecom solutions for wider deployment across a large volume of end-users. He further remarked that the convergence of academic excellence and innovative research will augment our national Intellectual Property (IP) assets.

Prof. Swades De, Head, Bharti School of Telecommunication Technology and Management, IITD, accentuated the need of having focused and productive frameworks for joint collaboration between academia and R&D, that would bring students, faculty and researchers closer to bridge the underlying gaps in an effective manner for faster design and development of commercially-viable, industry-grade and market-competitive technological solutions. He emphasized on the myriad dimensions of this collaboration-driven platform in leveraging the mutual strengths and complementarities to achieve ‘Atmanirbharta’ in Telecom sector. He wished this engagement between C-DOT and IITD a huge success.

Both C-DOT and IITD posed their trust into the efficacy of this collaborative platform and reiterated their firm commitments towards taking this further with a resounding success.