Since 2014, the Biomedical Engineering and Technology incubation
Centre (BETiC) at IIT-Bombay, COE-Pune and VNIT-Nagpur have brought
doctors and engineers together to ensure low-cost medical innovations
and impacts. The cycle of innovation begins with a number of medical problems
proposed by doctors and novel ideas generated by inter-disciplinary teams of innovators at the Medical Device Hackathon (MEDHA). Here, the participants watch curated videos of clinical problems and team up to create solutions.
Each team comprises doctors, designers and engineers (mechanical and electronics). They brainstorm, sketch and create innovative, fabricated prototypes. All teams presenting working prototypes receive rewards. Top innovators win a chance to acquire advanced training and a fellowship where their ideas can then be developed. Till now, eight editions of MEDHA have been conducted in various cities of Maharashtra.
This year, BETiC collaborated with Haffkine Institute of Testing, Research and Training, in Mumbai, Venture Centre, in Pune, and GH Raisoni College of Engineering, in Nagpur, to host MEDHA on weekends in July.
MEDHA as a platform
‘MEDHA brings together doctors who pose needs that haven’t been met and engineers keen to work in the healthcare field. They work together over a weekend to create proof-of-concepts for novel medical devices aiding diagnosis or treatment. These ideas can be taken forward at various BETiC centres, or other interested institutes to develop the products and then put out to market through a start-up company or licensing to industry. Over the past four years, our team has filed 50 patents and licensed 12 of them to start-ups and industry. Many of these ideas originated at MEDHA’
- Prof B Ravi, Founder, BETiC
How to apply
- Interested candidates are required to pre-register before June 25, 2019, on the BETiC website by uploading their biodata and creative work portfolio
- Based on these, they will be shortlisted, interviewed and selected
- Selected candidates are required to pay a non-refundable fee of Rs1,000
