The conference aims to bring healthcare and technology under a single platform involving academia, industry, venture funding and policy professionals
Bangalore Institute of Technology (BIT) in association with b-eCare (International Connected Health Initiative) is organising the Fifth International Conference on ‘Technology for Health’ from August 20-21 in Bengaluru. The conference aims to bring healthcare and technology under a single platform involving academia, industry, venture funding and policy professionals.
Commenting on the conference’s objective, Dr Aswath MU, Principal, BIT said, “The conference will allow professionals and students to understand and share technology, best practices and discuss the issues relevant in the industry. This is for the first time that we are involving healthcare and academia to understand the nuances between the two. Impact of technology on healthcare and medical education have grown to a great extent and it is here to stay which has compelled us to think and design technology inclusion in medical education. Inclusion of new-age technologies in the health system is based on the curriculum, which will address the challenges posed to the healthcare industry.”
BIT and Kempegowda Institute of Medical Sciences (KIMS) initiated and created a platform for medical and engineering students, which aims to bring health professionals and students from both the communities under a single roof. The platform will encourage exchanging of dialogues and understand the requirements of tech-enabled solution for healthcare.
Highlighting the platform’s objective, Dr Aswath said, “All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) has recently announced that it is mandatory to undergo internship for all engineering students. However, we realised that many times during the internship practice, students do not get sufficient exposure to understand the market requirements and later they fail to understand it. Hence, this platform will serve the purpose and both medical and engineering students will work in collaboration rather than silos. Together they will come up with affordable tech-enabled health solutions for the society.”
Revealing more about the financial assistance for students, Dr Aswath said, “A lot of financial assisting institutes are available in the market. However, the initial funding will be managed by us — BIT, KIMS and Rajya Vokkaligara Sangha. We have also received interest from ACCEL Ventures for raising funds for promising health-tech projects.”
Navin Govind, Founder and CEO, Aventyn USA and Dr Kris Vijay, Chief Medical Officer, Medical Director, CHF, Abrazo Arizon Heart Hospital and Abrazo Health Network said, “We must all unite to drive digital healthcare forward, harnessing the innovation in a full spectrum from basic IT to advanced AI. It is clear that across the healthcare system in India, there is a lot of innovation happening. In this regard, we are aspiring to bring together collaborations focussing on clinical, academic research, digital health industry innovation, standards and policy.”