IIT Kanpur alumnus donates Rs 2 crore for healthcare innovations

India's top engineering college IIT Kanpur has received a USD 2,50,000 contribution from its alumnnus Ajay Dubey and his wife Rooma Dubey for towards instituting a ‘Rooma and Ajay Dubey Healthcare Innovation and Ideation Program.

The contribution is aimed to seed health-tech innovations, giving students an improved infrastructure to  come up with great ideas and solutions. It also aims to fund and nurture innovations in health technology and build an ecosystem to nurture start-ups founded by students in the HealthTech domain, said the institute. 

On 6 December, a memorandum of understanding  was signed between Prof. Abhay Karandikar, Director, IIT Kanpur, and Mr. Ajay Dubey at IIT Kanpur. 

The program will expose students to various problem statements and motivate them to come up with technology solutions, and develop technological ideas for the betterment of the healthcare system. Under the umbrella of Startup Incubation & Innovation Centre (SIIC), IIT Kanpur, students will get funding and networking opportunities to fast-track their growth and build a culture of entrepreneurship. 

Abhay Karandikar, Director, IIT Kanpur, said, “Health-tech innovations under the R&D ecosystem of IIT Kanpur have grown manifold in the 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.”

Mr. Ajay Dubey, a 1980 graduate student of the Chemical Engineering department at IIT Kanpur, has over 30 years of industry experience. He has served as the Vice President at Infosys, and Head of Infosys Pune Development Center. He has also served as the COO of Persistent Systems, and as an Angel Investor at Uniken. Mr. Dubey has also contributed towards instituting scholarships for under and post graduate students at IIT Kanpur. 

After signing the MoU, Mr. Ajay Dubey said, “The aim of instituting the 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.” 

Dean of Resources & Alumni Relations, Prof. Kantesh Balani said, “IIT Kanpur extends sincere gratitude to Mr. Ajay Dubey and Mrs. Rooma Dubey for their generous contribution. This HII program, through this MoU signing, will encourage young student innovators of tomorrow to make an evident impact in the domain of HealthTech.”