IIT Bhubaneswar Signs MoU with AIIMS Bhubaneswar for Collaborative Research

06th Jan, 2020, Bhubaneswar: The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bhubaneswar signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with All India Institute of Medical Science (AIIMS) at Bhubaneswar for Collaborative research and academic interaction among the faculty and scientists of both the institutes in their core areas for improving the quality of health care through the application of technology.

The Minister of HRD has been on a visit to Bhubaneswar for an interaction with the Directors of some Central Institutes and KVS officials invited on the occasion. Making use of this opportunity, the MoU was signed by Prof. R.V. Raja Kumar, Director, IIT Bhubaneswar and Prof. Gitanjali Batmanabane, Director, AIIMS Bhubaneswar and exchanged in the presence of Shri. Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’, Hon’ble Minister for Human Resource Development (MHRD), Govt. of India, the dignitaries present, the faculty and senior officials of both the Institutes.

The collaborative research in healthcare is a valuable mechanism for advancing knowledge and strengthening research capacity for smooth dovetailing of skills and expertise. This collaboration will make modern research tools available to both the institutions by providing a unique platform for interdisciplinary research for students and faculty with a goal to improve health care facilities in our country. In the meeting, Director, IIT Bhubaneswar appraised the Hon’ble HRD Minister about the latest developments including the steady progress of the Institute on all fronts.

Amidst the meeting, Shri. Ramesh Pokhriyal, Hon’ble HRD Minister expressed his happiness and said that he is looking forward to fruitful outcomes from this collaboration in the best interest of the society. He also stressed that there is a void in the interdisciplinary research work where the areas of domains of the Institutions differ, particularly between technological Institutions and Medical Institutions which needs to be filled up. He also expressed that the Institutes should complement each other, work as a team and collaborate for meaningful outcomes in the interest of the society. The agreement to collaborate between IIT Bhubaneswar and AIIMS Bhubaneswar is a good starting. He expressed that the work should progress well for this endeavour today and he would like to know about the progress in the future.

Speaking on the occasion, Prof. R.V. Raja Kumar, Director, IIT Bhubaneswar expressing happiness and said that this “MoU provides a plethora of opportunities to work together in the interdisciplinary domains of Bio-medical application to Health Sciences. Collaboration with AIIMS will help IIT Bhubaneswar in developing our competence in Bio-Engineering and we together intend to foster the research in Bio-Engineering, Pro-Biotics and Bio-Medical Engineering. We are thankful to Shri. Ramesh Pokhriyalji, Hon’ble HRD Minister for his gracious presence at the occasion.”

Maintaining that technology has penetrated rapidly in to health care, Prof. Gitanjali Batmanabane, Director AIIMS said. “Today technology has become an integral part of health care. There is a need to further the research with the collaboration between the two institutes now and association with IIT will give a technology edge to the research of AIIMS.”

The programme ended with wide-ranging deliberations from the teams of both the Institute on the methods to take the partnership to a new level and translate the outcome in the best interest of the society.