The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to collaborate on a national initiative towards the creation of high-quality medical datasets representing India’s diversity.

ICMR and IISc will develop a technology-enabled hubs-and-spokes system of collecting and curating data through institutions across the country. ARTPARK (AI & Robotics Technology Park), a not-for-profit foundation promoted by IISc, will serve as the initiative’s partner for technology development and programme management.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) solutions – for screening, diagnosis, and decision support – hold much promise to improve access to healthcare, and boost productivity and effectiveness of health human resources at all levels. 

By leveraging premier medical institutions as hubs and bringing together experts from both medicine and data science, the team driving this initiative will help standardise data collection from many “spoke” institutions. It will also help curate that data and aim to make them available, in accordance with applicable policies and laws, to the broader community of researchers and innovators.