Mumbai, Dec 3 (IANS): The Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay (IIT-B) on Monday signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with NEC Technologies (NECTI) for conducting joint research and development in the field of Big Data analytics, Internet of Things (IoT) and Artificial Intelligence (AI), so as to solve a broad range of social challenges in India.

By leveraging advanced technologies, the IIT-B and NECTI will jointly work on value creation for major government initiatives across smart cities, as well as for the logistics and transportation domain.

The joint R&D aims to explore the use of big data analytics to optimise the movement of logistics containers across the country, which can result in shorter times for the delivery of goods and lower logistics cost.

"Through this joint R&D effort, we aim to address social challenges posed by rapid urbanisation and economic development in India, such as improving the efficiency of logistics networks, reducing road congestion and air pollution, and achieving smarter and safer cities," Akihiko Iketani, head of NECTI's NEC Laboratories India (NLI), said in a statement.

"The IIT-Bombay is steadily building research capabilities in collaboration with corporates investing heavily into R&D, including firms from Japan. We believe that such cooperations would open up new avenues of research for our brilliant students and faculty members. We look forward to a fruitful collaboration, which can make a significant impact on the society," added Suhas Joshi from the IIT-B.

NLI was established in July 2018 in Mumbai to promote agile development and commercialisation of solutions for India and other emerging countries.

By employing highly skilled IT talent and conducting joint research with academia, customers and partners, NLI engages in the creation of new solutions for public transportation and logistics, public safety, digital government and cashless payment.