The two national institutes signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on Tuesday evening to extend collaboration in advancing research for public health applications like early diagnosis of disease and outbreaks, AI and data analytics, biomedical engineering and technology, disease prediction modelling, digital health, development of tools, equipment and strategies for diagnostic and therapeutic use.
The institutes have agreed to facilitate faculty and student exchange programmes and reorientation/training courses that will bring academic excellence to their respective fields. They also agreed to develop and offer joint academic programmes involving technology and healthcare as well as an academic credit-sharing mechanism.
The two institutions of the Centre will focus on dedicated facility development and explore the use of advanced medical equipment for AI-enabled patient care services. This will provide joint academic programmes that include short summer courses for MBBS and BTech students, research dissertations and thesis work for doctoral (PhD/MTech) students.
The collaboration will also address the aspects of patenting, product development, technology transfer, and industry collaboration. It will create research motivation among students using high-end technology, said the official sources.
AIIMS Bhubaneswar executive director Ashutosh Biswas said the collaboration will focus on the application of AI with relation to various health disorders, material development, App development, wearable sensor development, image-based diagnostics, data sciences enabled smart health monitoring system, and early warning systems among others.
IIT Bhubaneswar director Shreepad Karmalkar said the institutes will focus on dedicated laboratory development. An advanced research centre called ‘Center for Biomedical Engineering and Technology’ has also been planned under this collaboration. The centre will largely include biomedical signal processing, advanced characterization, detector fabrication for imaging, additive manufacturing for designed materials, bio tracker and biosensor development for mental health care.
On January 7, Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan while attending the 4th annual convocation of the AIIMS Bhubaneswar had urged his cabinet colleague Union health minister Mansukh Mandaviya to start dual degree programme in AIIMS Bhubaneswar by collaborating with IIT Bhubaneswar.
