Prof. Vijay Pandurang Bhatkar is a computer scientist, IT leader, and educationalist, known as the Architect of India's supercomputing initiative. He is the Chancellor of Nalanda University and serves as the Chairman of Vijnana Bharati, a non-profit organisation of Indian scientists.

He is the Founder and Executive Director of the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC), which is the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology’s premier R&D organisation focused on IT, electronics, and related areas. 

Prof. Bhatkar is recognised for the development of India’s first supercomputer, the PARAM 8000, in 1991. This was followed by the PARAM 10000 in 1998. His work on the PARAM series of supercomputers led to the creation of the National Param Supercomputing Facility (NPSF), which is now integrated into the National Knowledge Network (NKN), offering high-performance computing (HPC) infrastructure across India. He is currently focused on advancing exascale supercomputing capabilities.

Dr. Bhatkar has also been instrumental in the creation of several national research institutions, such as the Electronics Research and Development Centre (ER&DC) in Thiruvananthapuram, the Indian Institute of Information Technology and Management, Kerala (IIITM-K), and the International Institute of Information Technology (I2IT) in Pune. 

Additionally, he contributed to the development of ICT initiatives like the GIST multilingual technology, which supports 22 official Indian languages and 10 scripts. He led the Maharashtra Knowledge Corporation Limited (MKCL), where its computer literacy programme educated 10 million people over the course of a decade.

Prof. Bhatkar has served in numerous academic and advisory roles. He was the Chairman of the Board of Governors at IIT Delhi from 2012 to 2017.  Dr. Bhatkar has served on several national committees, including the Scientific Advisory Committee to the Prime Minister and the IT Task Force, and chaired e-Governance committees for the Maharashtra and Goa governments.

Prof. Bhatkar has authored and edited more than 12 books and published over 80 research papers. His contributions have been recognised with several prestigious awards. He was awarded the Padma Shri in 2000, the Padma Bhushan in 2015, and the Maharashtra Bhushan in 1999. In 2024, he was honoured with the Punyabhushan Award for his lifetime contributions to science and technology.

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