Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham is partnering with 14 other institutions from EU, UK, China, Mexico, Mongolia, Paraguay in the ‘WeNet-The internet of Us.’ Dr. Shyam Diwakar, Director, Computational Neuroscience and Neurophysiology and Associate Professor, School of Biotechnology, Amritapuri, leads Amrita’s role in this project. Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham is the only partner from India.

The Horizon 2020 funded WeNet research project officially kicked off during a three-day meeting that started January 30, 2019 at the Department of Information Engineering and Computer Science, University of Trento, Italy. WeNet is a multidisciplinary project – using computer science, sociology and engineering – that will create a platform that enables people to support each other in a way that transcends geographical and cultural backgrounds. Diversity is a key enabler of the WeNet platform. It will use machine-learning algorithms to build user-profiles based on behavior and other key factors. The profiles will then be matched to positively exploit the diversity of users, allowing them to help one another. By connecting people from diverse backgrounds and skill sets, WeNet will enable them to interact and incentivize them to assist one another in ways that would not formerly have been possible.

The WeNet platform will be the basis of a series of studies within universities worldwide with diverse student populations to improve students’ quality of life inside and outside the academic environment, taking into consideration ethical and privacy guidelines.

Apart from Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, other partners of the WeNet research project include Università degli Studi di Trento, Italy; London School of Economics and Political Science, UK; Anoikto Panepistimio Kyprou (Open University of Cyprus), Cyprus; Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel; Martel Innovate, Switzerland; U-Hopper Srl, Italy; Agencia Estatal Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas, Spain; Idiap Research Institute, Switzerland; Aalborg Universitet, Denmark; Eberhard Karls Universitaet Tuebingen, Germany; Universidad Catolica Nuestra Senora de la Asuncion, Paraguay; National University of Mongolia, Mongolia; Instituto Potosino de Investigacion Cientifica y Tecnologia, Mexico and Jilin University, China.

WeNet will start with a number of Smart University pilots to exploit diversity case studies. These will be extended by further engaging five new pilot sites that will be found via the Open Call funding system. For ensuring the long-term sustainability of the research infrastructure, a non-profit organization will be created, which will be in charge of managing the infrastructure and managing the community.