Wednesday, July 26, 2017, 08:00 Hrs [IST]
The Kalam Institute of Health Technology (KIHT), India’s first institute dedicated to medical technology located at Andhra Pradesh MedTech Zone (AMTZ), Visakhapatnam, has received 100 per cent financial support from the Department of Biotechnology (DBT).
Named after India’s 11th President Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, KIHT has been set up with the aim to identify critical gaps in medical technology and suggest the government to do focused spending on such areas and help bridge the gap between academic research and industrial market access, by auctioning of patents and prototypes available with government funded academic research institutions.
KIHT shall broadly function on Innovation & Market Access, Enabling Technology Transfer, and Research & Development Support.
Placed within AMTZ, KIHT is amidst direct access to academia and industry. KIHT approval comes under the aegis of the launch of the National Biopharma Mission – an Industry-Academia Collaborative for accelerating discovery research to early development for biopharmaceuticals. The National Biopharma programme includes an investment of USD 125 million from the Government of India and an equal contribution as a loan from World Bank and is anticipated to be a game changer for the Indian biopharmaceutical and medical devices industry.
KIHT shall support Department of Bio-technology in areas of medical technology. KIHT – a registered society has Dr R Chidambaram, Principal Scientific Advisor to Government of India as its President; Secretary, Department of Bio-technology as Chairperson and Dr. Jitendar Sharma as Executive Director. It is a first Institute of its kind with Association of Indian Medical Device Industry (AIMED) on its governing board. KIHT is a jewel on the crown of AMTZ which is one of the fastest growing Government of India supported projects in Andhra Pradesh. AMTZ has recently received the most Innovative MedTech Zone Award.
Located within AMTZ campus, India’s first state-of-the-art medical devices manufacturing park, KIHT will have direct access to academia and industry.