IIT Kanpur alumnus contributes Rs 2 crore for health technology innovation

NEW DELHI: An Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur (IIT-K) alumnus, Ajay Dubey and his wife Rooma Dubey have contributed USD 2,50,000 or Rs 2 crore to the Institution for funding health technology innovations. IIT-K director, Abhay Karandikar and Dubey signed an agreement to introduce the ‘Rooma and Ajay Dubey Healthcare Innovation and Ideation Programme’ (HII programme) on December 6, 2022.

The programme aims to fund and nurture innovations in health technology and build an ecosystem for student start-ups in the HealthTech domain. The HII programme will give the students an exposure to various problem statements and encourage them to innovate technology solutions, and develop technological ideas for the healthcare system.

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Under the startup incubation and innovation centre (SIIC) established at IIT Kanpur, students will receive funding and networking opportunities for their growth and to build a culture of entrepreneurship.

Ajay Dubey graduated from IIT Kanpur, department of chemical engineering and has over 30 years of experience in the industry. His profile includes serving as the vice president at Infosys and the head of the Infosys Pune development center. He was also the the COO of Persistent Systems, and as an Angel Investor at Uniken. Dubey has previously contributed towards instituting scholarships for under and post graduate students at IIT Kanpur.

After signing the agreement, Dubey said: “The aim of instituting HII program is to find solutions that have been designed, developed, and manufactured in India. Affordable healthcare is already a huge challenge. The only way forward is for India to create its own solutions, designing, developing, and innovating here, to come out with equipment, processes that work in India, and at a scale that we need it.”

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On this occasion, Abhay Karandikar, said: “Health-tech innovations under the R&D ecosystem of IIT Kanpur have grown manifold in last few years. We also have a growing number of incubated startups working in healthcare. On behalf of the institute, I gratefully acknowledge Mr. Ajay Dubey and Mrs. Rooma Dubey's contribution towards supporting more robust technological advancements in healthcare to make India self-reliant. This generous endeavour would surely encourage more young people to develop affordable technologies for India’s health-tech sector.”