Vithal Madyalkar

Vithal Madyalkar serves as Program Director at IBM Innovation Center for Education (ICE), where he leads IBM's global university initiatives after an illustrious 23-year career at IBM spanning multiple leadership roles. His current work focuses on democratizing technology education through IBM ICE, a unique global initiative that provides applied IT knowledge in emerging technologies through partnerships with universities worldwide. Under his leadership, IBM ICE has developed industry-aligned curricula in areas including artificial intelligence, cloud computing, and data analytics, while implementing IBM's innovative Industry-Academia Collaboration Framework. Prior to his current role, he headed the IBM Innovation Centre for Partners, where he transformed the Bengaluru center into a globally recognized hub that incubated over 100 entrepreneurs and startups, earning it the "Best Innovation Centre" designation worldwide. His excellence has been recognized with IBM's "Innovation" and "Individual Excellence" awards from IBM Systems Development Labs in 2015 and 2016. Before joining IBM, he served as an industry solutions architect at SAP India Ltd., where he drove strategic solutions across the India/South Asia region. His current focus includes developing cutting-edge educational programs that combine project-based learning with industry expertise, ensuring students receive globally recognized IBM Digital Badges while gaining practical, industry-relevant skills.