India’s Blockchain for Impact allots $150,000 to IIT-Kanpur for advancements in healthcare

Blockchain For Impact (BFI), a healthcare fund set up during the COVID-19 pandemic in India, has allocated over $150,000, spread over three years, to develop programs for healthcare-focused startups at the Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur (IITK), a premier institute known for the highest standard of education in science and engineering.

BFI and IITK partnership was signed under the BFI-Biome Virtual Network Program to drive innovations and advancements in healthcare in India. BFI will support IIT Kanpur in promoting entrepreneurial initiatives through the institute’s Startup Incubation & Innovation Centre (SIIC). The collaboration aims to develop solutions that address critical gaps in India’s healthcare sector.

“This MoU [memorandum of understanding] will help us share knowledge, support startups effectively, and improve our capacity building efforts,” Kantesh Balani, dean of resources and alumni at IIT Kanpur, said.

“Through diverse initiatives in biomedical research and innovation, district full-stack partnerships, and process-driven funding programs, we are actively addressing critical gaps in India’s healthcare landscape,” said Gaurav Singh, chief executive of BFI.

The BFI-Biome Virtual Network Program is a $15 million initiative and aims to unite researchers and innovators to drive biomedical advancements. BFI-Biome has been partnering with top Indian institutes to support projects that have the potential to revolutionize healthcare. It recently partnered with the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) to support select research projects in life sciences from the IISc faculty.

Blockchain for Impact also allocated $900,000 over three years to the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, a premier institute in engineering and research, to accelerate biomedical research across India.

India, while averse to digital assets trading, has warmed up to blockchain, the underlying technology of digital assets.

“[Blockchain] gives us so many options. It can be used in so many different ways. So we are not against the technology,” India’s Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said at an event in 2023.

Blockchain technology helps tackle large volumes of data processed by the Indian healthcare industry while its immutability offers security and accessibility.

According to a report by PwC, the Bengal Chamber, and Medica Hospitals, “Blockchain will be introduced in the Indian healthcare industry over a period of time as the key blockchain-enabled use cases are currently being researched. In the meantime, the healthcare ecosystem should plan and design its current processes and systems to start adopting the various citizen-focused blockchain partnerships with its key stakeholders in order to ensure seamless health information exchange.”

Watch: Exploring use cases for blockchain in India