The Pune-based Vishwakarma Institute of Technology (VIT) along with State University of New York at Binghamton (Binghamton University) and Anveshak Technology and Knowledge Solutions, hosted the first international conference on ?Research Trends in Design, Analysis and Manufacturing of Mechanical Systems? at the VIT Pune campus. This conference provided a platform for industry and academia to collaborate on an international level, to discuss research trends as well as the need and challenges of industry-academia collaboration in the manufacturing sector.

The conference included a panel discussion on the ?Needs and Challenges for Industry-Academia Collaboration in India? with distinguished panellists including Dr Bala Bharadvaj (MD of Boeing Research and Technology ? India), Prof K Srihari (Distinguished Professor and Dean of Watson School of Engineering and Applied Science at SUNY Binghamton), Devdutta Chandavarkar (Director at Mercedes-Benz India), Sanjay Sharma (CEO of MESTECH Services) and Prof Nitin Afzulpurkar (Dean of Engineering and Technology at Asia Institute of Technology).

The panel discussion was followed by technical sessions on ?Design and Analysis? and ?Manufacturing Execution Systems? by senior researchers and managers from GM India Science Lab, MESTECH Services, TATA Motors, Daimler India Commercial Vehicles, ANSYS, respectively.