Wipro GE Healthcare join hands with IIT Madras to foster industry-academia collaboration

Bengaluru: Wipro GE Healthcare Private Limited (WGE) has announced a fellowship partnership with Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IITM), Chennai to provide increased opportunities for Research Scholars to build and further improve the innovation ecosystem. Under this program, Wipro GE Healthcare will also provide financial aid and industrial expertise to chosen Masters (MS) in Research Scholars at IITM.

Speaking on the collaboration, Azim Premji, Chairman, Wipro GE Healthcare said, “The world of healthcare is getting transformed through use of digital technologies which can address some of the toughest healthcare challenges. This transformation can be accelerated by building a collaborative ecosystem of industry and academia partners. Through this partnership with IITM, we wish to mentor the students and their ideas, and help them develop affordable healthcare solutions for those in need across the country.”

Wipro GE Healthcare aims to develop an innovation mindset in students with engineering skills by providing industrial exposure in healthcare domain and other technology areas of the company through close collaboration with technical experts. Research Scholars of this MS program shall also be offered nine-month long internship opportunity at WGE. The partnership will further evangelize the concept of local innovation in affordable Medical Technology and other related areas through activities such as student hackathons, guest lectures, product teardowns and lecture demonstrations.

“We are delighted to partner with GE Healthcare in this exciting area of healthcare innovation to catalyze innovative research and solutions that can impact the society positively. This collaboration will provide a rich experience to research scholars of the program as they will get a chance to work on diverse healthcare projects and get mentored by industry experts from Wipro GE Healthcare. Such research degree programs driven by industry-academia partnership are an important element of IITM’s research and innovation ecosystem” said Prof. Bhaskar Ramamurthi, Director, Indian Institute of Technology Madras.

Nalinikanth Gollagunta, Global Chief Operating Officer, Digital, GE Healthcare said, “We are honored to collaborate with IITM and tap into their vibrant pool of student community willing to be challenged to come out with breakthrough ideas in the healthcare sector. We believe in investing in talent early for building capacity not just for Wipro GE, but also for the entire healthcare ecosystem. Through the program we hope to foster a spirit of innovation and growth mindset among the future technology leaders coming out of IITM.”

Prof. Mohanasankar Sivaprakasam, Head of IITM’s Healthcare Technology Innovation Centre and coordinator of this program said, “We have had a very engaging and productive R&D collaboration with GE Healthcare during the past six years through various projects. This MS degree program takes our partnership to the next level by an explicit focus on developing talent and skills in this area through our research scholars.”