Chennai, Nov 14 (IANS): The Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras) on Wednesday said it was going to establish a joint research cell in collaboration with two Japanese manufacturing firms.

The premier engineering institute signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Japan's alfaTKG Co. Ltd. and OKABE Manufacturing Co. Ltd. for collaborating in the core areas of the manufacturing sector including research and development (R&D).

The MoU will pave the way for IIT Madras cooperating with the two companies in areas related to joint research, sponsorship programmes, usage of the facilities of each other, and exchange of employees among them.

"There is a lot of potential for this kind of collaboration with IIT Madras. This collaboration can also pave way for our students to intern in the partner firms in Japan," Professor Bhaskar Ramamurthi, Director, IIT Madras, said in a statement.

As part of the initiative alfaTKG, a pioneer in providing Internet of Things (IoT)-based solutions for paperless manufacturing technology in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), will be introducing "Genius Artificial Intelligence Assistance" (GAIA) for efficient manufacturing, machinery utility and health monitoring, IIT Madras said

OKABE Manufacturing is a leader in SME in Japan and a tier-1 supplier for Hitachi for ATM machines.