DAAD - AI Postdoc Networking Tour (Postdoc-NeT-AI)

Q: What was your highlight during the AI Postdoc Networking Tour in Germany organized by the DAAD?

I was invited to Germany on a 5 days AI Postdoc Networking Tour in the year 2019, by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD).  During the tour, I had the opportunity to gain an insight into Germany’s AI developments. I interacted with people working in Clusters of Excellence, Collaborative Research Centers at RWTH Aachen University, TU Dortmund University, and the University of Potsdam.

I also gained a peek into the research directions of various industries like Beckhoff Automation GmbH & Co. KG, Smart Factory OWL, and Siemens AG. Further, interaction with representatives from Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, Max Planck Society, Leibniz Association, Helmholtz Association, German Research Foundation, BASF, Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, and Technische Universität Berlin gave me an exposure to the funding opportunities and research positions at these organizations.

The tour proved to be quite fruitful. It was also a deciding factor for me to move to Germany for work.

Q: Why should India and Germany cooperate in AI? What are the trends of AI in India?

The cooperation between India and Germany in the form of technology sharing, joint projects, as well as fast and efficient human resource mobility can bring lots of benefits to them.

Germany is making great efforts to keep its AI research through universities and non-university research institutes at the forefront. The famous Cluster of Excellence at the University of Tübingen aims to enable the role of AI as a key tool in all aspects of scientific discovery. German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI) is amongst the most recognized “Centers of Excellence” in the international scientific community. There is also active research involvement in AI by the Max Plank Society, Fraunhofer Institutes, and Helmholtz Association.

India is also making enormous progress in AI through numerous efforts by the Government of India (GoI), academia, and industries – GoI fuels AI research through various public bodies and Think Tanks. The institutes of higher education are also doing their part. Indian Institutes of Technology, Kharagpur has a center of Excellence in Artificial Intelligence. Further, almost all the universities have AI innovation hubs on their campuses. The universities are also providing bachelor’s and master’s courses in AI. Additionally, the corporates such as Tata Consultancy Services and IBM’s research centres in India are making efforts in driving AI.

The AI research trends in India as well as in Germany are towards healthcare, industry 4.0, smart education, automobiles, robotics, IT security, etc. with a focus on machine learning, deep learning, natural language processing, and blockchain.