Monday, 24 March 2015, Professor Hans Akkermans, founding director of the Network Institute and chair of the W4RA, presented the research agenda of VU University Amsterdam, during an economic mission by the Amsterdam Municipality to India.
W4RA’s SmartRural was amongst the highlights of VU’s research theme The Connected World, which also includes the interdisciplinary Network Institute, Big & Open Data Science (VU and UvA collaboration), and SmartCity.
The collaboration between VU and Amrita University, which was formalized in a memorandum of understanding, signed in Bangalore, last Wednesday, March 25, will be put to action in various research projects and in student exchange. W4RA and Amrita’s Live-in-Labs program, will be part of the activities.
Last October (2014), an informal meeting took place. Professor Maneesha Ramesh, director of the Amrita Center for Wireless Networks & Applications and Professor Shyam Diwaker, head of Amrita University’s Computational Neuroscience Lab, visited VU Amsterdam, and met researchers and students, and presented the interesting Live-in-LABS program, aimed at uplifting rural India. A group of VU researchers presented the ongoing W4RA program, and plans were made to explore joint research opportunities.
This recent economic mission of Amsterdam to India, is an important next step, connecting W4RA to researchers of Amrita University. To be continued….
