NIMNAS-IIITB MoU Renewal

NIMNAS-IIITB MoU Renewal

NIMHANS, an Institute of National Importance and a cen­tre for excellence under the Government of India is dedicated to the management of mental, neurological, substance use and behavioural disorders. The research in­terests of the faculty range from basic research and translational research in fields re­lated to the mental, neurological, substance use and behavioural disorders.

IIIT-B is among the premier research and development (R&D) in­stitutions in India and a centre of excellence in higher learning, research and develop­ment established by the Government of Karnataka and is also a Deemed University. The in­stitute has a core interest in research domains such as, basic sciences, data sciences, robotics, electronic systems design, Information and Communication Technology for Develop­ment, and other aspects of Information Technology. In particular, the institute, through its E-Health Research Centre (EHRC), encourages research on the use of information and communi­cation technologies in the area of healthcare. More information is available at ehrc.iiitb.ac.in

With complementary expertise available with either institute, the Institutes entered into a research collabo­ration agreement in 2016, to accelerate the research efforts in both institutes in areas of mutual interest, by leveraging the information technology related skills from IIIT-B and the medical domain expertise from NIMHANS.

Over the past four years, robust collaborations have been devel­oped by faculty from both institutes in several areas. These include development of IT solutions for public health management, mobile apps for depression therapy and wellness assessment, solutions for automation in large hospitals, devices for surgical robotics and rehabilitation therapy, and management and analysis of health care data. 

At the event on Mon 27 Jan 2020, the institutes reviewed the progress of the collaboration over the last 3 years. The meeting were presided over by the Directors of the two institutes, Dr. Gangadhar and Prof. Sadagopan, and there were observations on the close collaboration happening between the 2 institutes and discussions on how this collaboration can be further strengthened and extended. Event was attended by a good mix of technologists and professors from IIITB side and doctors and professors from NIMHANS side. The Memorandum of Understanding between the 2 institutes was further extended. On this occasion there was also a demo of the robotic exoskeleton device developed by Bionic Yantra who are now working in collaboration with IIITB, MINRO and EHRC.