Xerox Research Centre India (XRCI), Xerox’s latest global research location that captures innovation opportunities for Xerox in emerging markets to advance Xerox’s position as the leading global provider of document and business process services conducted the 2nd edition of XRCI Open Innovation Symposium – 2015 in Bangalore. The event saw participation from eminent institutes, namely IISc Bangalore, IIT Delhi, IIT Bombay, IIIT Hyderabad, IIIT Delhi, IIM Indore, amid others as a part of the panel discussions, keynotes, and poster presentations.
“With the availability of abundant computing power, proliferation of data from sensors and increasing digitization of data, there are amazing opportunities to apply technology towards making a difference to the world at large,” said Dr Manish Gupta, Vice-President, Xerox Corp. and Director of Xerox Research Centre in India, during his welcome address. Manish spoke about innovations from Xerox Innovation Group in industry verticals like healthcare, transportation, education and banking, and opportunities for partnership.
Xerox has actively engaged in productive collaborations with Indian academia through a number of initiatives such as research grants and open innovation projects. The goal of XRCI Open is to establish stronger partnerships with the universities and the start-up community.
The opening keynote address was delivered by Prof. Anurag Kumar, Director, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, who presented advances and open challenges in the design and deployment of IEEE 802.15.4 (“Zigbee”) Networks for applications of the Internet of Things. Prof. Krithi Ramamritham from IIT Bombay gave an insightful keynote talk on leveraging technology for developing smarter real-time systems while optimizing cost, comfort and energy.
The event also witnessed a stimulating panel discussion featuring leading computer science researchers from India, Prof. P. J. Narayanan, Director, IIIT-Hyderabad; Prof. Jayant Haritsa, Chairman, Computer Science and Automation, IISc Bangalore; and recent Infosys prize-winner, Prof. Ashwin Srinivasan, and Dr Rajeev Shorey on the topic “Taking good research to great heights”. The audience, which included numerous PhD students and researchers, picked up several pearls of wisdom from the distinguished panellists.