Flipkart Co-Founder Binny Bansal Commits INR 70 Crore to Establish Tech Institute in Punjab

Plaksha University in Mohali has made known its intentions regarding the Binny Bansal Institute for Inventing the Future (IIF). A commitment of INR 70 crore from Flipkart co-founder Binny Bansal enables this move. The institute's focus is on advanced technology—specifically, artificial intelligence, blockchain, and robotics. It intends to utilize these technologies to develop scalable solutions for big, urgent problems. Crucial areas of concern include healthcare, agriculture, clean energy and environmental sustainability. The hire for the institute's directorship has yet to be finalized.

A Vision for Technological Advancement

Binny Bansal, who co-founded the software and consulting firm Xto10x, sees the institute as a potential bridge over the skills gap in AI talent. Its envisioned hub-of-hubs can span the four key domains of basic research, transformative research, practical, real-world applications, and the collaboration needed to make it all work.

The AI Talent Institute is not going to make a direct bridge by funneling academics into private enterprises. Instead, it should enable the partnerships mentioned earlier to make the transition happen at speed and scale. One AI Talent Institute initiative is a planned direct partnership with the public sector targeted at achieving that transition.

This is what Binny Bansal, Founder Flipkart and Xto10x, had to say about the initiative:

"The future of technology lies in solving real-world problems. This Institute reflects my belief that the power of frontier technologies can radically improve lives, from healthcare to clean energy. I am excited to see how this initiative will develop scalable solutions for global challenges and equip the next generation of innovators with the skills they need to lead the way."

Collaboration with UC Berkeley

A strategic partnership has been formed by Plaksha University with the University of California, Berkeley, embracing the famed Berkeley Artificial Intelligence Research (BAIR) Lab. This collaboration serves as an initial step toward engaging the University of California in joint research projects with Plaksha University and several other international partner institutions. The collaboration also enables the exchange of faculty and students between the two universities.

The partnership will bring in global deep-tech expertise and insights to add to India's burgeoning deep-tech sector. It will help us gain a stronger position in the world in areas like synthetic biology, climate science, and fintech.

Strengthening India’s Deep-Tech Ecosystem

The University has been vigorously building a robust deep-tech ecosystem in India. It launched the Info Edge Center for Entrepreneurship last year, which works to ensure that aspiring founders get the mentorship and incubation they need to succeed.

The Binny Bansal Institute for Inventing the Future will focus strongly on collaboration with academia, industry, and policymakers. Its work will focus strongly on commercialization, on taking research breakthroughs that it might induce or generate in its labs and offices and creating businesses out of them. There is too little of that happening in India, even as the country makes strides in fields like AI, blockchain, and robotics.