Nurturing Talent: Bosch’s IoT Garage Fuels Industry-Academia Connect

In 2019, a glaring 53 percent of Indian businesses reported an inability to hire due to lack of future-ready skill sets. The skill gap is estimated to widen even more by 2030, if corrective measures are not taken today. To narrow down this skill gap, IoT Garage from Bosch has taken steps to collaborate with several universities to facilitate a continuous exchange of knowledge, technology, and competencies.

A symbiotic collaboration between universities and the industry could be the answer to the competency and capability issues faced by several industries. With RBEI IoT Garage University Collaboration Event, Bosch took a step towards empowering partnerships that can help develop and nourish talent in line with the growing industry requirements.

Co-creation is the Key

The event brought together thought-leaders, academicians, innovators, and pioneers. Kaushik Sarkar, Senior Vice President, RBEI outlined how the technology landscape in India has transformed in the past few years. Walking the audience through some of the key innovations at RBEI, Kaushik emphasized that industry-university collaboration is essential in ensuring the continuity of innovation within the field.

Adding to the discussion, Mohan Bellur, GM, HR at Bosch elaborated on how RBEI has managed to build a system of “co-creation” with the universities. Outlining Bosch’s efforts, he states that “a lot of our seniors and experts are represented on the Board of Studies and have helped develop an industry-ready curriculum”. Bosch has also invested in Faculty Development Programs that can help the teachers understand real-life problem statements from the industry and train the students accordingly.

Nurturing Young Talent

The event was attended by distinguished universities including Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology (KiiT), Lovely Professional University (LPU) and GL Bajaj. Dr. Lovi Raj Gupta, Prof. Sambit Kar and Dr. Kavita Sharma shared their past collaborative experiences and emphasised the role of the liaison in helping them craft a curriculum that is in line with current industry needs.

The representatives spoke about how the collaboration has opened new opportunities for internships and training. This along with the exposure to improved technologies, helped bridge critical skill gaps in the training process.

Not only have these tie-ups provided the educational institutions with the knowledge of the latest innovations but have also provided much-needed technical support. This greatly helps bridge the gap between the classroom and the industry and prepares aspiring innovators for what is to come.

Building Bridges

To ensure effective co-creation, RBEI utilizes “3 pillars of engagement”. These measures are threefold and focus on bridging the knowledge gap and making the students “industry ready”.

Engage: RBEI engages with the students through its on-campus executives, student and faculty ambassadors. Initiatives such as Tech4CSR empower students to try their hands at creating solutions for the current industry challenges.
Empower: Simultaneously, the company also empowers the faculty through sabbaticals and training that give them an insight into current industry trends.
Enable: To ensure continuity, the IoT garage has established a continuous chain of knowledge transfer through regular webinars, training, internships and on-campus support

Each of these measures acts as a catalyst in the process of bridging the gap between the industry and the educational institutions. Regular correspondence between companies and training institutes is an essential tool that can help us ensure that future professionals are tuned in to the rhythm of the industry from the get-go.

A Mission of Change

The event saw an insightful panel discussion, moderated by Chandrasekar R.

Sriram T V – Vice President HR and Center Head Coimbatore at RBEI, Raghuram Joshi – Senior General Manager at RBEI, Dr. Lovi Raj Gupta – Lovely Professional University, Dr. Saranjit Singh - KIIT, Dr. Sanjeev KP - GL Bajaj, Mr. Arjun Nagarajan, and Syook exchanged ideas on the future of training and recruitment within the fields and how there is a need to push the norms.

The way we approach talent within the field needs to go through a perspective shift and the industry needs to be ready to expand its horizons. Mr. Raghuram Joshi outlines this concisely when he says -

“Talent is not defined by a boundary, where only people from a certain academic background can test for Bosch. We need to push that box and be more open to find people who are the best fit for the job.”

The Beginning

As the field continues to evolve it is essential that the companies take adequate measure to ensure prompt knowledge transfer. Forming a symbiotic alliance with educational institutions gives companies a valuable opportunity to foster young talents and make them industry ready. With on-campus support, regular interactions with student bodies, and initiatives to promote knowledge exchange, companies can help students and faculty keep up with the changing trends.

The IoT Garage is an active initiative towards bridging the gap between the industry and the classrooms. It provides end-to-end support and serve as the testbed for experimentation and innovation. Through its efforts, IoT Garage has collaborated with multiple start-ups, universities and business forums to create market-ready products and solutions. As companies engage and empower the institutions, they pave the way for the future of innovation. And this is just the beginning - we, at RBEI IoT Garage, are also gearing up to launch comprehensive university focused programs soon.

Click to know more about the RBEI IoT Garage.

For queries related to RBEI IoT Garage, write to Namitha.Parthasarathi@in.bosch.com

Authors:

Raghuram Joshi - Sr. General Manager, Enterprise Technology Services and Solutions

Chandrasekar R - General Manager, App & Dev Services for Cloud, Customer Experience and Immersive Tech