IIT Bombay and Columbia University Sign MoU to Establish Center of AI for Manufacturing
In the presence of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, IIT Bombay and Columbia University signed and exchanged a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to establish the Columbia–IIT Bombay Center of AI for Manufacturing.
The ceremony was held at Bharat Mandapam, New Delhi, and was also attended by Minister of State for Education Sukanta Majumdar, Secretary (Higher Education) Vineet Joshi, Secretary (School Education & Literacy) Sanjay Kumar, and Secretary, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) S. Krishnan.
Leading the delegations were IIT Bombay Director Shireesh Kedare and Columbia University Senior Vice Provost Soulaymane Kachani. The initiative’s key leaders, Vishal Misra, Vice Dean for Computing and AI at Columbia Engineering, and Mani Bhushan from the Department of Chemical Engineering at IIT Bombay, were also present.
The Ministry of Education has established four AI centers so far, and the Columbia–IIT Bombay Center of AI for Manufacturing will function as a joint research and translation hub focused on developing robust, scalable, and human-centric AI systems for real-world manufacturing. Several industry partners are expected to join the initiative.
Speaking on the occasion, Prof. Kedare noted that the center will help strengthen India’s manufacturing ecosystem through open, interoperable industrial AI infrastructure, supporting industry modernization, MSMEs, startups, and talent development, while positioning India as a global leader in AI-driven manufacturing innovation.
The new center will address a wide range of sectors, including semiconductors, robotics, industrial manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, food processing, refining and petrochemicals, construction, infrastructure, transport, and logistics. By leveraging the complementary strengths of IIT Bombay and Columbia University in foundational AI, optimization, and manufacturing engineering, the center aims to build end-to-end industrial AI solutions capable of addressing real shop-floor challenges such as legacy equipment, noisy data, real-time constraints, and multilingual workforces.
Through collaboration with industry partners, the center will focus on applied research, customized industrial solutions, talent development, and startup translation, while also releasing foundational datasets, models, and interfaces as public goods to support India’s diverse manufacturing ecosystem.
