The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) has recently signed a multi-year Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru, to conduct joint research on blockchain and artificial intelligence (AI) technology. This partnership aims to establish the “NPCI-IISc Centre of Excellence (CoE) for Deep Tech Research & Development.”
The collaboration will focus on scalable blockchain platforms, multi-modal analytics over fintech data, and practical challenges in these areas. Faculty members from five departments at IISc will work with NPCI researchers to drive innovation in the payment landscape.
Vishal Kanvaty, CTO of NPCI, expressed, “As our nation progresses towards digital sustainability, we recognise the significant potential for research in deep technologies such as blockchain and AI to further enhance the payment landscape.” The partnership aims to foster cutting-edge research, develop models and software prototypes, and provide workshops and training programmes for professional development.
Navakanta Bhat, Dean of Division of Interdisciplinary Sciences at IISc, stated, “This partnership will not only nurture professional development but also foster the development of models and software prototypes through cutting-edge research.” NPCI’s collaboration with IISc aims to address complex technological and engineering challenges in scalability, privacy-preserving designs, neural networks, Graph AI, Large Language Models (LLM), and more.
