Mphasis extends grant to Ashoka University with Rs 18 crore in funds

Information technology (IT) solutions provider Mphasis on Thursday released its latest tranche of its grant to Ashoka University through its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) arm.

The new grant, worth Rs 18 crore, will be utilized to expand the Mphasis Laboratory of Machine Learning and Computational Thinking at the university over the next three years. The expansion of the lab will offer spaces for experiential learning through live projects, hackathons, and flexible spaces for industry-academia engagement, through lecture series and workshops.

The varsity will also form Digital Makerspace to intensify engagement and experiential learning within the student community. It will provide Computer Science (CS) and non-CS students with an equal opportunity to benefit from Ashoka’s interdisciplinary environment, the company said. It added that the Makerspace will be a collaborative workspace for making, learning, exploring, and sharing using high-tech to no-tech tools, which will enable the ideation of tech-enabled solution-centric startups.

Mphasis, part of the Blackstone portfolio companies, announced the partnership with Ashoka University in 2020. Being a first-of-its-kind collaboration in an interdisciplinary institution in India, nine projects were initiated under the three pillars of Digitization and Society, Health Analytics and Dissemination.

“With our partnership with Ashoka University, we aim to inspire students across all academic fields to foster innovation and harness their potential to create a lasting impact on society. With the growing digital edge, it has become imperative to build a culture of innovation to have a future-ready generation with unmatched capabilities and skill sets,” said Nitin Rakesh, Chief Executive Officer, and Managing Director, Mphasis.

The machine learning lab would scale existing high-impact projects and pilot new initiatives such as the Ashoka Centre for Health Analytics, Research & Trends (CHART) to develop India-specific metrics and visualization tools enabling policymakers to identify appropriate strategies and schemes. It will also be the foundation ground of BharatSim, an open-source, large-scale, agent-based simulation framework.

“Our Build Ashoka plan outlines a bold vision for interdisciplinary research in our accelerated growth phase. With this extended support from Mphasis, we will raise the bar in academic excellence with a pioneering vision as we collaborate to fuel research-based solutions for real-life challenges and long-term sustainable impact that lasts beyond our times,” said Pramath Raj Sinha Chairperson, Board of Trustees, Ashoka University.