Kharagpur, West Bengal, Bangalore, Karnataka, India: Wipro Limited a leading global information technology, consulting and business process Services Company and Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur (IIT Kharagpur), today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to collaborate on high-impact, industry-focused applied research in the areas of 5G and AI. Research outcomes from this partnership will be leveraged by Wipro to develop solutions for its customers, across industry verticals. IIT Kharagpur will benefit from the commercialization of the joint research insights and Wipro’s real-world industry expertise.

Wipro and IIT Kharagpur will jointly take up applied research projects on industry challenges related to the design, planning and operations of 5G networks and cognitive information processing for the automation of these processes and 5G use cases. The two organizations will focus on AI research applicable in the healthcare, education and retail sectors as well as in domains such as climate change and cybersecurity. In addition, subject matter experts from Wipro and IIT Kharagpur will promote knowledge sharing through guest lectures, workshops and seminars on 5G and AI.

IIT Kharagpur is pursuing research projects in areas including front and back haul optical networks, vehicular ad hoc networks, interplanetary networks, channel estimation, optimized resource allocation, Multiple-Input & Multiple-Output (MIMO) and millimeter wave communications, secure communication & cross layer optimization and multimedia transmission for 5G. Student research groups are also working on Network Function Virtualization (NFV) and Software Defined Networking (SDN), which holds immense potential in 5G telecommunication. In addition, the institute is also working on foundational research in AI Algorithms, formal methods, machine learning, deep learning, graph mining and analytics, game theory and mechanism design.

Wipro offers end-to-end 5G solutions for network equipment providers, network service providers, smart cities and enterprises in the media & entertainment, manufacturing, energy and utilities verticals. This involves touchpoints across all network layers such as radio access, backhaul, transmission network, core network, orchestrator, OSS-BSS systems, edge & public cloud and application ecosystem.

Wipro has developed automation solutions, powered by its artificial intelligence platform – Wipro HOLMESTM. Through algorithmic intelligence and cognitive computing capabilities, Wipro HOLMESTM accelerates the digital journey of enterprises and enhances operational efficiency, economics, and user experience across applications, infrastructure management, and key business processes. Wipro has significant expertise and several use cases in the application of AI across industry domains. In addition, Wipro’s Data Discovery Platform (DDP), which has advanced analytics and AI at its core, offers Insight-as-a-Service across industries.

 “Wipro is delighted to partner with IIT Kharagpur and strengthen our ties with the academic research community in India. AI and 5G are critical technologies poised to create opportunities that will significantly enhance customer experiences across industry verticals. We hope to bring together the synergies of Wipro’s rich industry technology expertise and understanding of domain-specific business challenges with IIT Kharagpur’s distinguished research capabilities to co-innovate and develop next-generation AI and 5G solutions that will benefit both our clients as well as the industry at large,” said K.R. Sanjiv, Chief Technology Officer, Wipro Limited.

Commenting on the partnership, Prof. P P Chakrabarti, Director, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur said, “Our partnership with Wipro comes at an opportune time and holds tremendous potential for co-innovation. 5G is expected to provide ubiquitous connectivity for diverse applications such as automotive communications, remote control with haptic style feedback (using artificial intelligence), large video downloads, automation of enterprise functions and low data rate applications. For instance, cars of the future will speak to each other to help avoid accidents and also share information about the road conditions ahead. With the advent of 5G, IoT will be extensively used in our day-to-day life, across industry sectors as well as in Smart City and Smart Home concepts because of enhanced connectivity, speed of communication and reduced round-trip time latency.”