BIM signs MoU with IMTI on water resource management

Bharathidasan Institute of Management (BIM), Tiruchi, and the Irrigation Management Training Institute (IMTI), Thuvakudi, which functions under the Water Resources Department, signed a three-year Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Thursday to collaborate on executive education, applied research, artificial intelligence, data analytics, water resource management, and institutional capacity building.

The MoU is aimed at enabling the institutions to explore developing management dashboards, performance indicators and predictive models, according to an official announcement on Thursday.

The BIM–IMTI collaboration complements BIM’s existing MoU with the International Centre for Clean Water (ICCW), at IIT Madras Research Park, strengthening the institute’s emerging engagement in the field of water sustainability and technology-enabled problem-solving.

Potential areas of investigation include water use efficiency, institutional performance, water quality, resource allocation, climate resilience, citizen and stakeholder engagement, and the application of AI and predictive analytics to water management.

“We envision Tiruchi and its surrounding region as a living laboratory for applied research — a place where real problems become research questions, research yields actionable insights, and those insights are tested through field engagement to deliver measurable public value,” said BIM director Asit K. Barma.

C. Podupani Thilagam, Director-general, IMTI, said the MoU would bridge the gap between academic excellence and field applications. BIM’s AI analytical ability on real time data operation would be helpful in taking critical decisions in the water sector, he added.

The three-year indicative roadmap includes executive education programmes, student projects, training impact assessments, digital dashboard prototypes, joint research publications, and knowledge-sharing sessions. In subsequent phases, the institution’s propose expanding applied research, policy evaluation, management consulting, and AI-enabled initiatives.

Centre for governance

The MoU provides for exploring the establishment of a Centre for Water Governance and Public Management or Smart Water Management, subject to separate approvals, which could serve as a platform for sustained research, executive education, and knowledge dissemination.

A Joint Steering Committee comprising representatives from BIM and IMTI will guide the collaboration, said the announcement.