The Government of Telangana announced a key collaboration with Birla Institute of Technology & Science (BITS) Pilani at the first edition of Mobility Next Hyderabad Summit 2023 in Hyderabad.

At the summit, a key MoU among BITS Pilani, Telangana Mobility Valley ((TMV), a GoTS initiative), and Bosch Global Software Technologies Private Limited, was announced to help empower the State’s efforts of being at the forefront of exploring emerging innovations in New Mobility. The CoE in relation to the MoU will be established at the Hyderabad campus of BITS Pilani, which will help deliver the desired results primarily by facilitating effective collaboration among various entities.

India’s First CoE for New Mobility to be in Hyderabad

Kalvakuntla Taraka Rama Rao, Minister for Municipal Administration & Urban Development, Industries & Commerce, and Information Technology of Telangana, during his address at the summit, announced with great pride that Hyderabad will be home to India’s first ever Center of Excellence (CoE) for New Mobility. New Mobility refers to the emerging innovations and technologies in the automotive industry with key focus on Connected, Autonomous, Secured, and Electrified vehicles.

Leveraging Synergies among the Government, Industry, and Academia

 BITS Pilani is well renowned for its focus on experiential learning and innovative model of higher education, which is designed and developed in collaboration with the industry. The institute also provides the flexibility to identify academic programmes, based on the requirements of working professionals’ organizations and in consultation/collaboration with industry on the expected learning outcomes. These two key aspects (among several others) helped the Government of Telangana identify and recognize BITS Pilani as a key partner for its TMV initiative.

One of the most effective ways to accelerate New Mobility in the State is by empowering engineers with knowledge, skills, and experience, which can help them address segment-specific challenges effectively. The Government of Telangana acknowledges this fact and aims to help address it by primarily leveraging academic expertise from BITS Pilani and resources from leading organizations, such as Bosch Global Software Technologies Private Limited. As a first step, BITS Pilani will be commencing two new Post Graduate Diploma programmes for the engineering graduates of the State — one on Automotive Cybersecurity and the second one on Smart Vehicles.

Casting more light on the collaboration with BITS Pilani, Mr. Gopalakrishnan VC, Director Automotive and EV Sector, Industries and Commerce Department, Government of Telangana, explains, “We recognize the importance of designing courses, research and development, and imparting training/capacity to the engineering/technology/sciences students in the areas of New Mobility, such as ADAS, embedded systems, and automotive cybersecurity. Considering BITS Pilani’s reputation and expertise in this space, it was both intuitive and informed decision by us to seek their expertise to help create highly qualified manpower in various fields related to New Mobility. We are certainly excited, as we look forward to the new developments that would take place in our State and beyond, through our enterprising TMV initiative.”

Speaking on the occasion of signing the MoU, Prof. G. Sundar, Director, Off-Campus Programmes & Industry Engagement, BITS Pilani, remarked, “For quite some time now, we have been working with the Government of Telangana on a number of key initiatives. And this particular collaboration is yet another feather in the cap, as it primarily leads to sustainable development, not just from New Mobility perspective in the State and beyond, but also in terms of skilling, upskilling, and/or reskilling professionals. With BITS Pilani being an Institution of Eminence, we take immense pride in sharing some of our best practices and expertise, which invariably leads to innovation and brighter ideas for the future; this collaboration is certainly a huge step in this regard and beyond as well.”