Wipro GE Healthcare (WGE) has announced a fellowship partnership with Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IITM), Chennai, to provide increased opportunities for Research Scholars to build and further improve the innovation ecosystem. Under this programme, Wipro GE Healthcare will also provide financial aid and industrial expertise to chosen Masters (MS) in Research Scholars at IIT Madras.

Speaking on the collaboration, Azim Premji, Chairman, Wipro GE Healthcare said, “Through this partnership with IITM, we wish to mentor the students and their ideas, and help them develop affordable healthcare solutions for those in need across the country.”

Wipro GE Healthcare aims to develop an innovation mindset in students with engineering skills by providing industrial exposure in healthcare domain and other technology areas of the company through close collaboration with technical experts. Research Scholars of this MS programme shall also be offered nine-month long internship opportunity at WGE.

The partnership will further evangelise the concept of local innovation in affordable Medical Technology and other related areas through activities such as student hackathons, guest lectures, product tear-downs and lecture demonstrations.

Highlighting the opportunities from this collaboration, Prof Bhaskar Ramamurthi, Director, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, said, “This collaboration will provide a rich experience to research scholars of the programme as they will get a chance to work on diverse healthcare projects and get mentored by industry experts from Wipro GE Healthcare.”

Nalinikanth Gollagunta, Global Chief Operating Officer, Digital, GE Healthcare said, “We are honoured to collaborate with IITM and tap into their vibrant pool of student community willing to be challenged to come out with breakthrough ideas in the healthcare sector. We believe in investing in talent early for building capacity not just for Wipro GE but also for the entire healthcare ecosystem.”

Prof Mohanasankar Sivaprakasam, Head, IITM’s Healthcare Technology Innovation Centre and coordinator of this programme said, “We have had a very engaging and productive R&D collaboration with GE Healthcare during the past six years through various projects. This MS degree program takes our partnership to the next level by an explicit focus on developing talent and skills in this area through our research scholars.”