The Association of Indian Medical Device Industry (AIMED) which will be a part of the governing body of the Kalam Institute of Health Technology, has welcomed the move
By BioVoice Correspondent – July 26, 2017
New Delhi: The Kalam Institute of Health Technology (KIHT), India’s first institute dedicated to medical technology will be located at Andhra Pradesh MedTech Zone (AMTZ), Government of India. The institute has received official approval for 100 per cent financial support from the Department of Biotechnology, Government of India.
In a statement, the Association of Indian Medical Device Industry (AIMED) welcomed the initiative taken by AMTZ led by Dr Jitendra Sharma and Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, Mr Chandra Babu Naidu in hosting Kalam Institute of Technology. “AiMeD is honoured to be invited to serve on the Governing Board which will lead the prioritised indigenous development of medical devices in India for addressing priority diseases,” it stated.
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.
Located within AMTZ campus, India’s first state-of-the-art medical devices manufacturing park, KIHT will have direct access to academia and industry. The formal launch of KIHT is scheduled to be done soon by Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandra Babu Naid and Union Science & Technology Minister, Dr Harsh Vardhan.
KIHT shall broadly function on innovation and market access, enabling technology transfer, and research and development support. A registered society, it has Dr R Chidambaram, Principal Scientific Advisor to Government of India as its President; Secretary, Department of Biotechnology as Chairperson and Dr Jitendar Sharma as Executive Director. It is a first Institute of its kind with AIMED on its governing board.
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.