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Amazon and MIT yesterday announced the establishment of the Science Hub, a collaboration that will focus on numerous areas of mutual interest beginning with artificial intelligence and robotics in the first year. Amazon is seeding the hub with both gift and sponsored research funding over the next five years to support research and fellowships on campus.

Amazon’s support will be focused not only on research collaboration but also helping to fund the education and training of future scientists who reflect the diversity of perspectives and expertise at Amazon, MIT, and around the world.

Tye Brady, MIT alumni and Amazon Robotics chief technologist, noted that Amazon’s existing relationship with a number of MIT faculty helped lay the groundwork for the collaboration. According to Brady, the gift will support annual fellowships as well as events and activities that accelerate AI and robotics research in ways to make it more accessible, such as research symposia that are open to other academic institutions and the public. In addition to the gift, sponsored research funds will support research projects led by MIT faculty.

Dating back to 2003, Amazon has had a long history of engagement with MIT, focusing on data analytics, supply chain and systems optimization research. Earlier this year, the Amazon Last Mile team announced a collaboration with MIT’s Center for Transportation & Logistics (MIT CTL) with the aim of incorporating driver know-how into route optimization models.