The Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur (IITK) and the ICICI Foundation for Inclusive Growth (ICICI Foundation), the corporate social responsibility arm of ICICI Bank, have entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to collaborate on the development of a Digital Health Stack. This project aims to advance and strengthen public healthcare, starting with the State of Uttar Pradesh. ICICI Foundation will provide significant financial support for the initiative over multiple years.
The MoU was signed by Prof J Ramkumar, Acting Dean of Resources and Alumni at IIT Kanpur, and Sanjay Datta, President of ICICI Foundation for Inclusive Growth. The signing ceremony was attended by senior officials from both ICICI Foundation and IIT Kanpur. Shri Awanish Kumar Awasthi, Advisor to the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, joined the event virtually.
The Digital Health Stack project is designed to bring technological, medical research, and innovation together to transform public healthcare. It involves the development of MedTech devices, enhancing point-of-care (POC) services, and building public healthcare capacity. The project also focuses on the early detection of chronic diseases using AI-integrated devices. The initiative will be based on the IIT Kanpur campus.
Prof Manindra Agrawal, Director of IIT Kanpur, commented, “With the core expertise in Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning and a thriving MedTech ecosystem, the Institute is well poised to provide necessary technological support to the mission of developing the Digital Health Stack. We are grateful to ICICI Foundation for their generous contribution towards this initiative and look forward to a successful endeavour.”
Sanjay Datta, President of ICICI Foundation, added, “ICICI Foundation has been working for capacity building in the healthcare space. In line with this, we are pleased to collaborate with IIT Kanpur for creating a Digital Health Stack that will contribute towards digitising and enhancing the public healthcare system.”