THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The newly-launched Digital University, Kerala (DUK) has put in place adequate facilities for the creation of industry-ready youngsters who have adequate experience in innovation, product design and real world problems.
The university hopes to achieve this aim through its innovation cluster consisting of incubation facilities, centres of excellence in emerging areas, research centres and specialised labs in the emerging cross-disciplinary application domains within IT and electronics. “Various incubation centres, research units and centres of excellence provide the right ambience for curating out-of-the-box thinkers who will be capable of leading the digital revolution,” said Saji Gopinath, vice chancellor, DUK.
The pandemic coupled with the emerging scenario in areas of artificial intelligence, AI hardware, signal processing, automation, cyber security, data science, and connected systems have created a huge demand for professionals who have hands-on experience in cutting edge technologies.
“The innovation cluster offered by the DUK is expected to be an answer for the growing requirements of the IT industry. The Msc/ MTech courses of DUK are designed to give students the opportunity to understand and identify real world problems and find solutions through innovations,” the Vice Chancellor said. Some of the major units of the innovation cluster at DUK are:
Maker Village
Part of the electronics product innovation ecosystem at Digital University, Maker Village is aligned closely with the School of Electronic Systems and Automation. Its facilities are useful for students enrolled in MTech programme in Electronics Engineering (AI hardware, Signal Processing). The students will get opportunities to work closely on industry relevant problems during their studies for developing products, some of which could evolve into startups.
Blockchain Academy
The Kerala Blockchain Academy (KBA) offers students the opportunity to work with reputed blockchain networks. The decentralised laboratory at KBA Blockchain Garage is equipped to pilot new concepts on blockchain and enables students to bring in their own innovative ideas and products through internships.
‘ThingQbator’
It is aimed at facilitating early stage MSc/MTech students to work on their innovative ideas using digital technologies in a hands-on environment. ‘thingQbator’ also helps students turn their ideas into working prototypes and in the process come up with scalable solutions addressing local problems.