KIHT ushers in research on critical components pertaining to medical devices since its inception one year ago

KIHT which was conceived a year ago ushers in focused research on critical components pertaining to medical devices with support from various stakeholder institutions. Conceived as a research facilitation institution by former Principal Scientific Advisor (PSA) to the Government of India, the premier Institution of the country for medical devices completed its first year on 17th July, 2018.

It is also collaborating with Tata Institute of Social Science (TISS), Mumbai for taking fellowship programme to the next level by converting it to executive programme on health technology policy, assessment and outcomes research.

In its one year, KIHT has made giant leaps and was notified by the office of the PSA in June 2018 as the project analysis unit for all health technology projects in the country. This was preceded by a meeting convened by the PSA on April 30, 2018 at the KIHT campus with a host of country’s leading R&D institutions working on medical technology for taking stock of the status of projects which received government funding in the health technology domain.

KIHT, inter-alia, has achieved the following in its one year – first ever E-Auction for medical technologies launched on 15th February 2018 by ministry of chemicals and fertilizers, around 22 technologies identified for technology transfer of intellectual property and prototypes, bringing strategic and coherent synergy of scientific facilities and research institutions with industrial promotion, signed MoU with 12 institutions for technology collaboration and bringing vibrancy into the medical devices fraternity, carried out first of its kind disease burden and trade deficit amalgamated model to create the national priority list which formed the backbone for the National BioPharma Mission. This was the first of its kind need and trade-based grant release for R&D in any sector of science.

KIHT also created a knowledge repository for trade information, analyzing emerging trends in trade and investments, towards policy enabling inputs to the government. It also launched a pioneer initiative named Non-regulatory Innovation Potential Utility and Novelty (NIPUN) certificate to act as a single point window for all non-regulatory requirements of the medical technology sector and provide a simplified approach to the process of the commercialization of a product.

It also promulgated health technology as one of the core component of market access which adds value to the product credibility by giving them comparative overview of clinical and economic effectiveness of the innovation with its systematic, transparent and evidence-based decision-making process. KIHT joined the presidential delegation from India to Cuba in June 2018 as a key stakeholder in promoting bilateral bio-technology collaboration.

A tripartite MoU between KIHT, BIRAC and ‘BioCubaFarma’ was signed in the past to facilitate several stakeholders, including industry, R&D Institutes and technology transfer offices and pave the way for technological and industrial progress in health technology sector.

As part of its constant endeavour to cater to the needs of the medical devices industry, KIHT came out with unique type of dossiers to disseminate information specific to devices in healthcare which are complex in technology and import dependent. These dossiers capture key features of a product like design, technology, market share, etc. and facilitates users like start-ups, researchers, academicians, manufacturers and other stakeholders in taking decisions on R&D, investment, potential market, innovations etc.

It has been conducting periodic training sessions on medical devices and their functionality with hands on session by experts on the actual device itself.

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