IIT Madras bags HP Labs Innovation Research Award

Chennai, Nov 24 (UNI) Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Madras has won the coveted HP Labs Innovation Research Award for 2008.

HP Labs selected the premier institution to be the recipient of the annual grant to fund a strategic joint research project that could transform the way humans interact with computers, a company release here said today.

The award was a part of the HP Labs Innovation Research Programme that aims to create opportunities at universities and research institutes around the world for breakthrough research in association with HP Labs.

Following an open and competitive process that reviewed more than 450 proposals from 200 varsities in 28 countries spanning the globe, HP selected 41 projects at 34 institutions.

Selected professors represent US institutions, including Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford University and University of California, Berkeley and international institutions such as Germany's Technische Universitaet Muenchen, the Russian Academy of Sciences, Indian Institutes of Technology and China's Tsinghua University, the release said.

As part of the award, graduate students from IIT Madras along with their faculty will work together with HP Labs India researchers to explore newer forms of Human Computer Interaction, including hand gestures and speech to influence virtual objects on a computer monitor or projection screen.

The principal investigator for this project is Dr Anurag Mittal, Assistant Professor, Department of Computer Science and Engineering, IIT Madras.

''We're happy to establish this new relationship with HP Labs. The award provides our students and professors with an opportunity to work on next generation technologies for Human Computer Interaction that will have a significant impact on future computer users, including those in India,'' said T T Narendran, Dean - Industrial Consultancy and Sponsored Research, IIT Madras.

''Our association with HP Labs India will provide a platform for our students to witness the value of their research and its usage,'' Prof Narendran added.

Speaking on the occasion, Ajay Gupta, Director, HP Labs India, said, ''the grants are meant to encourage collaboration in cutting- edge information technology research between HP and academic institutions around the world. Awardees will work with HP Labs researchers on speculative and path breaking research, which will generate the next set of technology breakthroughs in these areas of research.

UNI WS KVV SV HT1645