Ola Cabs announces research collaboration with IIT-B on AI

Ola Cabs co-founder Bhavish Aggarwal on Saturday announced research collaboration plans with Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay with faculty as well as students in the field of Artificial Intelligence (AI). He was speaking during the 19th edition of E-Summit, the annual flagship business conclave of the IIT Bombay’s Entrepreneurship Cell (E-Cell).

Aggarwal is a 2008 IIT-B graduate in Computer Science Engineering (CSE). “In those times if you had to work in the core technology field, you had to go to the US because India did not have much opportunities. The times are changing and Ola is committing to partake in this change. If you have an idea in technology domain that can change the world, we will fund you,” said Aggarwal as he urged IITians to stay in the field of technology. “Many go and join trading, investments, consulting companies. These sectors are important. But technology is the way to create an impact on humanity,” he said.

The founder of the cab aggregator announced the Ola Graduate fellowship program wherein 5-7 selected students from the Powai institute will get a chance of paid opportunity to conduct reserach in AI; apart from expressing the interest of collaborating with faculty researchers from the field.

The E-Summit began its two-day celebration on Powai campus of the institute on Saturday. The most popular event of the festival, The Ten Minute Million, saw three short-listed teams pitching to 16 investors to invest in their enterprises, with maximum amount of Rs 24 lakh per team. Two teams bagged the investment money.