Kochi | Dr Moopen’s AI and Robotics Centre, an initiative of SAFI, organised the first Industry Demand Day at UL Cyberpark, bringing together industry leaders, academicians, and innovation stakeholders to promote collaborative problem-solving and student-led innovation.

The event, designed as a precursor to an upcoming State-level Student Hackathon, saw active participation from over 30 companies, which shared more than 50 real-world automation and technology challenges. These industry problem statements will serve as inputs for students to develop practical and scalable solutions through the hackathon that is planned in January.

Industry Demand Day is the first in a three-event series envisioned to strengthen the AI and robotics ecosystem by aligning industry needs with academic capabilities and emerging talent.

The event was addressed by Dr. Azad Moopen, Founder Chairman, Aster DM Healthcare; Dr Prahlad Vadakkepat, Professor at the National University of Singapore; Prof. EP Imbichikoya, CEO, SAFI Group of Institutions; Col. Nisar Ahmed Seethi, Director; C. S. Mehaboob MA, General Secretary, SAFI; and Mr. Santhosh Kurup, Project Consultant.

The keynote address by Dr Prahlad Vadakkepat, Professor at the National University of Singapore, highlighted the rise of Industry 5.0, emphasising human-centric, personalised approaches alongside advanced automation. The event had an interactive session between industry and the faculty community of SAFI, where the clarifications of Industry on the problem statement shared, was discussed in length.