MICA & Komerz launch AI commerce programme for students

MICA and Komerz have formed a partnership to embed Komerz OS into MICA's academic programme, with the first phase giving more than 400 students access to the platform.

The agreement brings together one of India's best-known marketing and communications institutes and a UK-founded commerce technology company at a time when employers are placing greater weight on data, technology and commercial skills in marketing roles.

Under the arrangement, students will use Komerz OS as part of a four-module programme within MICA's academic ecosystem. The programme will expose them to AI tools, live business datasets and commercial decision-making environments across brand strategy, consumer intelligence, marketplace strategy, retail media, revenue growth management and commercial analytics.

MICA, formerly Mudra Institute of Communications, Ahmedabad, has operated for more than 35 years and built its reputation on combining creativity, consumer insight and strategic thinking. The new tie-up adds a stronger emphasis on how technology and data are used in day-to-day business decisions.

The move comes as marketing teams face pressure to work across functions that were once more separate. Creative development, consumer research, analytics, media and commerce now intersect more directly, changing the skills many companies expect from new recruits.

Curriculum shift

The partnership is meant to reflect that change in the classroom. Rather than focusing only on brand-building and communications, the programme aims to give students practical experience of how data and technology shape commercial decisions.

For Komerz, the arrangement puts its operating system in front of students preparing for careers in marketing and related commercial roles. Founded in the UK in 2023, the company says its platform connects data, intelligence and execution across the commercial value chain.

The platform is used to support consumer targeting, channel performance, demand forecasting and market expansion. Embedding those tools in an academic setting suggests closer alignment between management education and the software businesses increasingly use.

That alignment has become more important as AI tools move from experimental projects into routine commercial use. Employers increasingly want graduates who can interpret data, understand automated systems and connect creative work to measurable business outcomes.

Jaya Deoras Deshmukh, Director & CEO of MICA, outlined the institute's view of that shift.

"Throughout its history, MICA has evolved alongside the marketing profession, continually adapting our curriculum to prepare students for what's next. AI represents the most significant transformation our industry has experienced in a generation, changing not only the tools marketers use, but the skills organisations now expect. Komerz is at the forefront of that transformation, and by bringing Komerz OS into our learning environment we're giving students direct exposure to the technologies, data and commercial decision-making that are increasingly shaping business today," Deshmukh said.

Broader industry link

Beyond the teaching modules, the two organisations will also work together on research, executive education, industry publications, innovation programmes, internships and other initiatives intended to strengthen links between academia and industry.

Those additional areas of co-operation suggest the partnership is intended to extend beyond a software licensing arrangement. It also points to a broader push by educational institutions to keep pace with changes in how marketing, sales, distribution and analytics operate within companies.

India has become an increasingly important market for marketing technology, digital commerce and analytics skills, while UK-based firms continue to seek international academic partnerships that can expand their reach and influence future talent pipelines. For institutions such as MICA, such partnerships also offer a way to make courses more relevant to employers without abandoning core teaching in strategy and creativity.

Komerz described the partnership as a response to the growing integration of commercial work across departments.

"This partnership is designed to educate and develop the marketers of tomorrow by bringing together creativity, sales, marketing, commercial strategy, supply chain and artificial intelligence within a single learning platform. Marketing is no longer a collection of disconnected disciplines - it is an intelligent commercial system. MICA's graduates will leave equipped to build brands, fluent in a commercial lexicon to drive growth and lead commercial transformation from day one," Krishnamurthy said.