National ICT Australia Ltd (NICTA) and Infosys will jointly set up a centre of excellence in optimisation algorithm to solve complex problems related to supply chain for clients in Australia, according to Hugh Durrant Whyte, CEO, NICTA.

Early this year, NICTA, an ICT research organisation, and Infosys signed a joint research collaboration agreement to tackle the ‘hard technology’ problems facing businesses. Setting up the centre in India and Australia, is part of this tie up, Whyte told Business Line .

As problems become more complex, the optimisation methods (algorithms) need to become more capable. For example, if a company needs to deliver a million items to 10,000 customers using 100 trucks, what is the allocation of items to trucks and customers that will minimise cost? Or, in a complete supply chain, what set of ships, port movements, people and trucks is needed to deliver all of a companies outcomes to the right place at the right time to maximise profit? “This is a hard problem and is the type of thing we will be doing with Infosys,” he said.

Whyte was in Chennai leading an Australian ICT delegation to showcase innovation and research excellence in ICT and explore partnerships with local IT companies, including HCL Technologies, Tech Mahindra, Wipro and Cognizant.

Infosys has the capability to design and implement the solutions while NICAT has a group of experts in optimisation. Supply chain is critical for Australia, which is a big country and vastly populated. There is mineral supply chain and food supply chain and nearly 40 per cent of GDP is spent on shipping goods around the country as against 20 per cent globally.

Best place If Infosys wants to offer customer supply chain expertise, Australia is the best place to build capacity, expertise and apply first with Australian customers and take it globally, he said.

raja.simhan@thehindu.co.in

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