Pune: Soon, two postgraduate or PhD students of the Savitribai Phule Pune University (SPPU) will be offered one-year fellowship and professors will be trained for Industry 4.0 digital technologies, as the varsity's SPPU Research Park Foundation and C4i4 Lab Pune - a section 8 company set up under Samarth Udyog program of Government of India - has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to set up an 'Industry 4.0 Experience Centre' on campus.
Industry 4.0 enables the transformation of traditional manufacturing and industrial practises using the latest smart technology. This centre at SPPU will help the industry understand various technologies and relevance for their operations. The centre will be set up to promote adoption of digital technologies by the industry. Based on the fellowship, students will be able to work in this centre.
SPPU Vice-Chancellor Dr Nitin Karmalkar, Pro Vice-Chancellor Dr N S Umarani, Industrialist Rahul Kirloskar, SPPU Research Park Foundation CEO Dr Arvind Shaligram, C4i4 Lab CEO D S Navalgundkar, SPPU Coordinator of Design Innovation Centre Dr Pooja Doshi and SPPU Innovation Director Dr Apoorva Palkar were present during the MoU signing function.
Dr Karmalkar said, "Covid-19 pandemic has created a lot of opportunities for multi-disciplinary development programs touching different fields of science and technology. There is a need for industry-academia interaction to solve complex issues."
Rahul Kirloskar said, "There are only four such centres in the country out of which one is in Pune University. Such centres bring opportunity for young minds for developing innovative solutions to the challenges that industry is facing."
Dr Shaligram said, "Industry 4.0 is an important digital technology of the future. As per the Memorandum of Understanding with C4I4, training in this technology will be provided free of cost to the professors of Pune University. Also, two postgraduate or PhD students of the university will be offered a one-year fellowship. Based on this fellowship, students will be able to work in this centre."
