Ericsson Research and the Indian Statistical Institute (ISI) have partnered to conduct research on safe and reliable cyber-physical systems. The collaboration will take place under the Cyber-Physical Systems (C-CPS) umbrella, a virtual interdisciplinary research center. The center aims to foster research in Sustainable and Trustworthy Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) with immediate impact in deploying AI and CPS in the Indian ecosystem. Key individuals involved include Prof. Sanghamitra Bandyopadhyay, Director ISI Kolkata, Dr. Magnus Frodigh, Head of Ericsson Research, and Nitin Bansal, Managing Director of Ericsson India. The research will focus on AI, 6G, and quantum secure communication.
Ericsson Research and Indian Statistical Institute Collaborate on Cyber-Physical Systems Research
Ericsson Research and the Indian Statistical Institute (ISI) have announced a three-year Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to collaborate on research activities under the Cyber-Physical Systems (C-CPS) umbrella. The partnership aims to foster fundamental and applied research in Sustainable and Trustworthy Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) with immediate impact in deploying AI and CPS in the Indian ecosystem.
The collaboration led to establishing a virtual interdisciplinary research center, the Centre for Cyber-Physical Systems (C-CPS), in February 2024. The centre aims to facilitate research on safe and reliable CPS, which is expected to produce the necessary technologies for the next-generation autonomy.
The Role of the Indian Statistical Institute and Ericsson in the Collaboration
The Indian Statistical Institute, with its focus on future technologies, provides a conducive environment for collaborative translational research. Prof. Sanghamitra Bandyopadhyay, Director ISI Kolkata, expressed enthusiasm about the partnership, stating that the institute welcomes the collaborative ISI-Ericsson research centre and is eager to contribute towards CPS realization in the age of AI and 6G.
On the other hand, Ericsson, with its strong focus on R&D, sees this collaboration as a crucial step in Compute and AI research. Dr Magnus Frodigh, Head of Ericsson Research, expressed excitement about the partnership and its potential for collaborative research in fundamental areas as well as translational research for Future Network Platforms.
Ericsson’s Vision on 6G and AI
Ericsson’s vision on 6G aims to blend the physical and digital worlds, enabling improvements in the quality of life by incorporating widespread sensor-based communications between humans and machines through digital twins. Nitin Bansal, Managing Director of Ericsson India, emphasized Ericsson’s commitment to research partnerships in AI and 6G with academic institutions, stating that these initiatives are geared to provide affordable network platforms for ubiquitous connectivity across the country.
The Future of R&D: Industry-Academia Partnership
Prof. Diganta Mukherjee, Chairperson of the Cell for Cooperation with Academia, Industry and Research Labs (C-CAIR), ISI, highlighted the importance of industry-academia partnerships in the future of R&D. He expressed optimism about the partnership with Ericsson and the potential opportunities it could lead to in the Data Science and Machine Learning domain applied to 6G telecommunication as well as classical and quantum secure communication.
Celebrating the Collaboration: Talks and Deliberations
To celebrate the collaboration, a series of talks and deliberations were organized, where leaders from Ericsson Research and ISI participated to discuss the developments and advancements of current research plans and further collaborative research prospects between ISI and Ericsson. Some of the topics of discussion included next-generation and energy-efficient AI for CPS ready deployment at the network edge, fundamental challenges in 5G and beyond network research, quantum machine learning and secure communication.
