IIT-Hyderabad to find health-care entrepreneurs
Top educational institute's incubator, Center for Healthcare to groom startups.
By Entrepreneur India •
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Giving wings to the imagination of young entrepreneurs, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT)- Hyderabad inaugurated the "Center for Healthcare Entrepreneurship'; an interdisciplinary centre which will focus on making universal healthcare a reality.
"Innovation and Entrepreneurship are the key drivers to India's economic development. It is imperative that we create an ecosystem in India for innovations and entrepreneurship," said Prof. Desai, Director IIT-Hyderabad.
The Center will operate with a physical office and research facilities within IIT Hyderabad's campus. Apart from being an incubator, the center intends to have a complete program for identifying and grooming entrepreneurs, and mentoring them all the way to productization, scaling and eventual social adoption and impact.
"Entrepreneurship and this center is in line with the thinking of our PM and our CM. The role of the government in entrepreneurship is twofold - the government can be an early adopter and can incentivize the innovators. We welcome IIT Hyderabad to work with Telangana government in setting up entrepreneurship opportunities in the areas of IT, aerospace and healthcare. Technology that does not bring about social change is futile," said K.T. Rama Rao, Minister for IT & Panchayat Raj, Telangana.
Center would train entrepreneurs to deliver a pipeline of cost-efficient solutions. It will develop "out-of-the-box' solutions, nurture promising ideas through startup phase, guide the best ones to access the full set of financial, operational as well as organizational resources.
"Although we have a god given demographic advantage, there is a need to create 100 million jobs in 10 years. It's often thought that large companies create jobs, but it is startups that contribute 60 percent of the jobs today. We are fortunately at a time when innovation is at its best. We have to make innovation a part of our education culture. IIT Hyderabad is today at the fore-front of the second generation IITs. With this Centre for Healthcare Entrepreneurship they bring technology into healthcare aiming to touch the lives of people," said Reddy.
The Center will be sponsored by two Silicon Valley entrepreneurs and IIT Bombay alumni Raj Mashruwala and Avinash Manudhane.
"We were looking for an institute with strong commitment to societal needs, technological excellence and critical mass to create impact in healthcare technology. IIT Hyderabad with its nearly 2,000 students, more than 150 faculty and proximity to high tech city showed deep understanding, passion and capability to bring about innovative products and solutions. Hyderabad has a full ecosystem from healthcare facility, engineering, entrepreneurial talent and infrastructure to operate the center," said Mashruwala.
