 "UCL inks trilateral pact with AIIMS, IIT-D to scale up medtech innovation")
University College London (UCL) on Friday signed a trilateral agreement with the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi (AIIMS), and the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi to advance research innovation and solutions in the field of medical technology.
The partnership aims to leverage industry connections across all three institutions, paving the way for multidisciplinary technology and innovation-focused solutions in healthcare.
The agreement formalised today seeks to develop and drive innovations in areas such as diagnostics and imaging, devices and implants, digital health and artificial intelligence, and surgical and treatment intervention technologies.
“The partnership will be supported by the development of staff and student exchanges, joint research programmes, collaborative degrees, workshops and conferences, and joint publications,” according to a joint statement by the three institutes.
Commenting on the collaboration, Dr Michael Spence, president and provost at UCL, said that the agreement provides a real opportunity to bring together the institutes’ joint expertise to solve questions related to technologies needed to deliver better clinical outcomes for people worldwide in the future.
“At UCL, we recognise the difference that international collaboration can make in solving pressing global challenges, and we know the power that bringing together different disciplines can have,” he added.
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The trilateral agreement comes days after UCL signed a Letter of Intent with IISc Bengaluru, facilitating closer collaboration with its forthcoming postgraduate medical school across research, education, innovation, and commercialisation.
“These are quite different projects,” Spence added.
“While one (with IISc) is about working on what clinical education might look like in the future, with AI and technology-assisted hospitals, this is about medical technologies of one kind or another,” he said.
Explaining UCL’s plans for future collaborations in India, Spence said that while UCL has many opportunities to collaborate with institutions worldwide, they are choosing a very small number to prioritise at the moment.
“I think it says something about the quality of Indian research that when we could choose partners from anywhere in the world, two of our university priority partnerships are here in India,” Spence told Business Standard.
This partnership also marks the first time that UCL, AIIMS, and IIT Delhi are working together in such a comprehensive, cross-disciplinary manner.
“While UCL has enjoyed long-standing bilateral partnerships with both AIIMS and IIT Delhi, this would be the first time the three institutions will collectively work together across disciplines,” the joint statement added.