A new management at the helm and a strategy in place, Infosys, India's second-largest information technology (IT) services company, is taking a relook at the way it allies with academic institutions.
The Bengaluru-based company, which traditionally engages with international and Indian universities for research and setting up of chairs in subjects, is seen exploring ways to take these partnerships to the next level by seeking joint business opportunities.
One recent example is Infosys's engagement with the Design School at Stanford University, California. While the school is helping Infosys employees, teams from Infosys and the design school are also conducting design workshops for clients.
This is part of Chief Executive Vishal Sikka's strategy to drive design thinking within the organisation to explore avenues.
"During the last three months, we, with the teams from the Design School, have conducted five or six workshops for some clients. These have gone down quite well with them," said U B Pravin Rao, the chief operating officer.
"While our strategy at a broader level remains the same, some of the thinking in terms of partnerships are relatively new. While we have had partnerships, I think the extent of the partnerships we are talking about now is probably different," Rao added.