Indian Institute of Technology Madras is going to collaborate with two industry partners for research in Artificial Intelligence and magnetic nanoparticles-based products.
The Institute has joined hands with MagGenome Technologies to develop magnetic nanoparticles-based products including developing advanced nucleic acid extraction kits. The collaboration with BUDDI Healthcare Technologies is to develop Artificial Intelligence-based software products for the Healthcare industry, respectively.
MagGenome Technologies is a Chennai-based nano-biotechnology start-up that focuses on developing magnetic nanoparticles-based technologies for application in life science, chemical, pharmaceutical and engineering industries. BUDDI Health is a US-based cloud-based patent-pending deep learning platform for Healthcare.
Both these collaborations were facilitated under a novel concept called ‘Towards Excellence in Engineering Dual Education’ (TEEDE) initiated by IIT Madras. It merges the classroom learning with industrial experiences and envisages students spending considerable time employed in Industry as full-time workers, rather than interns, as part of their Curriculum. This initiative will expose students to real-time developments and the technological needs of the industry.
Prof V. Kamakoti, Associate Dean (Industrial Consultancy and Sponsored Research), IIT Madras, signed the MoUs with Ram, Chief Executive Officer, BUDDI Health, in the presence of Prof B Ravindran, Head, Robert Bosch Centre for Data Science and Artificial Intelligence (RBC DSAI), and Prof Rajesh Nair, Coordinator, TEEDE, IIT Madras, and also with Dr CN Ramchand, Chief Executive Officer, MagGenome Technologies.
Speaking about these collaborations, Prof Rajesh Nair, Coordinator, TEEDE, IIT Madras, said, “This need-based alliance will lead to focussed knowledge sharing and ultimately lead to faster career growth for researchers.”
Both MoUs come with Fellowships which are at par with remuneration of junior-level engineers. The objective is to enable the hiring of students through the pre-placement project and is expected to fast track the IIT Madras students’ career growth trajectory.
The partnership with MagGenome Technologies will also focus on other applications of magnetic nanoparticles in the near future for providing solutions in the areas of diagnostics, therapeutics and environmental remediation.
The Department of Biotechnology at IIT Madras, headed by Prof D Karunagaran, will be in charge of this collaboration which seeks to steer students towards a path of quick career development.
