Honeywell Technology Solutions (HTS) and the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT)- Hyderabad have entered into an agreement to set up an Artificial Intelligence (AI) lab here and jointly do research on AI and related emerging technologies According to a press release, Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Wednesday inaugurated the lab which would be managed, maintained and upgraded by the IIT.

"IIT-H is the first institute in the country to offer full-fledged B Tech in AI in line with the recommendation of NEP (new education policy) 2020. I am confident with the recommendation of NEP 2020 such collaboration will become more common and further strengthen to achieve the goal of internalisation at home," the release quoted Pradhan as saying.

HTS and IIT-Hyderabad would together do research on technologies that solve problems of the future with AI as the major focus area, the release said.

Additionally, the two organisations formed a mutual association to provide industry-specific domain-training, remote project mentoring, engineering certificate course, training workshops and hackathons for students of IIT- Hyderabad and select employees of HTS, it said.

The association would provide industrial collaboration for IIT-Hyderabad, an academic environment for Honeywell employees to conduct research, and enable students to upgrade their skills and improve their employment opportunities, it said.

"Honeywell works with many top researchers globally, and we are pleased to extend that work with some of the greatest minds of the country at IIT-Hyderabad," the release quoted Samuel Pratap, president, HTS, as saying.

The two organisations would also develop courses pertaining to emerging technologies and what Honeywell uses in its portfolio to enable the IIT students to gain industry exposure, the release added.