Faculty and students represented IIIT Hyderabad, at Qualcomm’s very first SparQ event held on 22 July at Qualcomm Office, Commerce Zone Building, Hyderabad. The event commenced with an inspiring welcome address by Qualcomm’s Chief Technology Officer, Dr. Baaziz Achour on the vital role of edge AI in shaping next-generation intelligent devices.
The keynote officially opened the exhibition, setting an energetic tone as 22 innovation booths geared up to showcase their ideas to an eager crowd.
IIITH Smart City Living Lab, represented by Lokabhiram Chintada and Prudhvi Ankamreddi, has put up a booth on Waste segregation with Multimodal Fusion. Edge AI–driven Waste Segregation system, a smart, sustainable solution to one of today’s biggest urban challenges, was showcased using multimodal fusion on the Qualcomm QIDK kit.
The ability of Qualcomm’s energy-efficient QIDK 8650 to process visual and thermal data right at the edge made waste detection and sorting faster, smarter, and more accurate. The booth set-up by IIITH buzzed with activity as Qualcomm experts stopped by, sharing their excitement about the real-world potential of our multimodal fusion approach. Their encouraging feedback not only validated work done by IIITH but also gave fresh insights to make it even better.
In addition to this project, IIITH was represented by two more Demo Projects: Akhila Matathammal, who presented a demo on SAGE-ML: Self-Adaptive Model Switching Across the Edge–Cloud Continuum, and Ansh Shah, who showcased AQI Estimation using Learning Methods on the QIDK Kit.
IIIT Hyderabad’s SPCRC team, under the guidance of Prof. Sachin Chaudhari, presented an innovative edge-based Air Quality Index (AQI) monitoring solution at Qualcomm’s SPARQ event. The team developed a low-cost, scalable, camera-based system powered by AI to enable efficient and accessible air quality monitoring. Leveraging the Qualcomm Innovation Development Kit (QIDK), team members Om Kathalkar, Ansh Shah, and Aditya Shanker demonstrated the solution’s capabilities to participants.
The event wrapped up on a high note with an inspiring award ceremony, celebrating brilliant minds for their creativity, technical skill, and problem-solving, a true reflection of Qualcomm’s commitment to innovation. The energy continued with richer conversations, meaningful networking, and more visitors exploring the booths. One of the participants, Prudhvi, a software engineer, exclaimed, “SparQ was more than just a conference; it was a space where ideas turned into possibilities, collaborations, and the future of Edge AI felt within reach. We’re proud to have been part of it and excited for the journey ahead”.
August 2025