Wipro has endowed a Professorial Chair for Artificial Intelligence at Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne.

Professor Ryszard Kowalczyk, currently director of Swinburne’s Key Lab for Intelligent Software Systems and head of the university’s Artificial Intelligence and Intelligent Agent Technology research group, has been appointed to the position.

Wipro and Swinburne University also plan to establish a joint innovation centre to conduct high-impact, industry-focused research in the areas of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) with specific applications for digital health and smart cities. The partnership will focus on creating innovations in AI that will benefit enterprises in Australia and the ASEAN region.

“Through the combined power of Wipro’s global innovation ecosystem and Swinburne University’s research capabilities, we will drive world-class research in AI that will have an impact on a global scale,” Manoj Nagpaul, Wipro’s Senior Vice President and Business Head, Asia Pacific and Japan, says. “We are also very excited to be able to take many of the jointly developed innovations to our customers.”

“With this powerful industry-academia partnership, we are on course to transform AI and ML as we know it,” Professor Kowalczyk says. “AI and ML are today one of the most coveted skills and this innovation centre makes it possible to fast-track AI and ML courses for industry professionals and provide the industry with access to a large pool of PhD and undergraduate students at the university.”