Deakin University of Australia and the Government of Telangana, through its AI innovation hub Aikam, signed a strategic Memorandum of Understanding in Hyderabad to advance applied artificial intelligence on Thursday.
The agreement was signed and exchanged by Professor Iain Martin, President and Vice-Chancellor of Deakin University, and Phani Nagarjuna, Founding CEO of Aikam, at the Telangana State Secretariat.
The ceremony was attended by key government and academic leaders, including Bhavesh Mishra, Special Secretary of the ITEC Department, and Ravi Kiran, Commissioner of Electronic Service Delivery. Deakin’s leadership was further represented by Ravneet Pawha, Vice President (Global Engagement) and CEO (South Asia).
This partnership focuses on establishing the Aikam-Deakin Hub for Research in Intelligent Technology & Innovation (Aikam-DHRITI). The collaboration prioritises mass upskilling to create an AI-fluent workforce, joint translational research, and startup enablement.
By leveraging Deakin’s research capabilities and Telangana’s high-performance infrastructure, the initiative aims to deploy ethical, scalable AI solutions for public service delivery and global economic impact.