Strengthening Industry–Academia collaboration: Enterprise Architecture for Digital Transformation
09 September 2026
SPJIMR convened an Industry–Academia Leadership Workshop on Enterprise Architecture, organised in collaboration with the Directorate of Vocational Education and Training (DVET), Government of Maharashtra, with the support of The Open Group.
The workshop brought together industry leaders, academic experts, and ecosystem stakeholders to examine a critical question: what needs to change, and what can industry and academia build together, to prepare for the next generation of Enterprise Architecture in the fast-changing era of AI.
Three perspectives, one shared agenda
The discussions brought together three interconnected perspectives:
From industry: Preparing for a changing role
Industry leaders explored how AI is reshaping Enterprise Architecture, how the role of the Enterprise Architect is evolving, and the capabilities organisations will need as technology becomes increasingly embedded in business strategy and operations.
From academia: Evolving how we prepare future professionals
Academic leaders examined how curriculum, faculty capability and experiential learning need to evolve in response to emerging enterprise and technology requirements.
From industry–academia collaboration: From engagement to co-creation
A key theme emerging from the workshop was the need to move beyond individual engagements towards practical and sustained models of collaboration. These could include industry immersion, knowledge exchange, upskilling, experiential learning, co-created curriculum and projects, and stronger institutional partnerships.
The objective is not simply to create more interactions between industry and academia, but to create mechanisms through which both can contribute to capability building and respond together to emerging needs.
Bringing the ecosystem together
The workshop brought together voices from across industry, academia and the wider professional ecosystem.
Industry participants included:
- Sunil Agarwal (LTM)
- Amit Deshpande (HCLTech)
- Bikramjit Pal (PwC)
- Harish Godse (Kyndryl)
- Shipra Nigam (Capgemini)
- Sri Venkateswarlu (Bayer)
- Neeraj Bhople (Advisor, Ex-Red Cross)
- Deepak Jhunjhunwala (Accenture)
- Prashant Baj (FarmChain Services)
- Geeta Naik (SAP)
Academic and ecosystem participants included:
- Prof. Shailaja Jha (SPJIMR)
- Prof. Jyoti Jagasia (SPJIMR)
- Prof. Abhishek Jha (SPJIMR)
- Prof. Manish Poptey (KJ Somaiya)
- Prof. Sudhir Dhage (SPIT)
- Prof. Ujwala Madhav (VSIT)
- Prof. Ravi Prakash (KCCEMSR)
- Prof. Santanu Das (TCET)
- Dr. Suresh Shan (CSI Mumbai)
- Vijay Jain (C-DAC)
- Asha Shete (Consultant)
- Dr. Pradeep Pendse (Consultant, Ex-CTO, WeSchool)
SPJIMR acknowledges the contributions of Dr. Anil Jadhao, Joint Director, DVET; Prof. Varun Nagaraj, Dean, SPJIMR; Dr. Pallab Saha, General Manager (India, Middle East & Africa), The Open Group; and Prof. Aditi Divatia, SPJIMR; as well as all participants who contributed to an open and action-oriented dialogue.
From dialogue to sustained action
The workshop reinforced a broader Imperative: industry–academia dialogue must translate into sustained action.
For SPJIMR, meaningful industry engagement is not limited to bringing practitioners into the classroom or creating opportunities for students to interact with industry. It is about creating a two-way exchange of knowledge and experience, where industry challenges inform learning and research, while academic thinking and evidence contribute to solving real-world problems.
SPJIMR will continue to create platforms where industry and academia can come together to identify emerging challenges, exchange knowledge and build practical responses. The Enterprise Architecture for Digital Transformation workshop is one such step towards developing future-ready capabilities through sustained collaboration, experiential learning and shared problem-solving.