Delhi, has agreed to gift USD 10 million (Rs ~75 Cr) to IIT Delhi. Yardi Systems, founded in 1982 by Anant, is a leader in real estate asset and property management solutions and the largest real estate software provider in North America.
Mr Yardi’s gift would enable IIT Delhi to create state-of-the art laboratories and attract talented students and researchers to its newly established School of Artificial Intelligence (ScAI). The School of Artificial Intelligence was set up by the Institute for the express purpose of expanding opportunities for fundamental, and inter-disciplinary research, innovation and post-graduate education in Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning, and Data Science technologies.
Acknowledging the proposed gift, Prof V. Ramgopal Rao, Director, IIT Delhi, while addressing the media on the eve of 52nd Convocation of the Institute, stated, “We are proud of our successful alumni who have received national and international recognition and are grateful for this contribution considered by Mr. Anant Yardi. The future progress of a nation will depend on its AI capability. This generous gift will catalyse cutting edge research in AI and related areas and propel ScAI and IIT Delhi in their quest for building better solutions for the benefit of our Society, Environment, Industry and Nation.”
Speaking on IIT Delhi’s objectives for the School, Prof Mausam, ScAI’s Founding Head, said, “A key purpose of setting up ScAI is to not only develop and support the growth of AI researchers in the country, but also strengthen IIT Delhi’s place on the global AI map. Mr. Yardi’s contribution will greatly enable the realisation of ScAI objectives.”
“ScAI expects to hire at least 20 core faculty members in the coming years, seeking external partners in helping shape the school into a world class entity,” added Prof Mausam.
Elaborating on his reasons behind making the gift, Mr. Anant Yardi stated, “Artificial Intelligence technologies are driving global transformations, and playing a pivotal role in industrial, social and environmental change. We look forward to the ScAI strengthening education and research in AI, Machine Learning and Data Science, to enable commercial and societal applications. I am pleased to contribute to the School of Artificial Intelligence and help IIT Delhi continue its outstanding work in the field of academics and engineering.” Mr. Anant Yardi has been recognized as one of the early pioneers in the commercial real estate automation industry. His vision has been the driving force behind the development of effective and innovative software solutions for global real estate portfolio management. Prior to establishing Yardi Systems, he worked at Burroughs Corporation as a software development manager. Anant has an M.S. in Engineering from the University of California at Berkeley, and BTech (Director’s Gold Medallist) from IIT Delhi.
The School of AI is IIT Delhi’s 6th school. Overall, ScAI will be broad in its research trajectories, and multi-disciplinary in its academic pursuits.